Naruto Uzumaki Chronicles: The Half Blood Prince
by lionheart555
Summary: NarutoHarry Potter. Seven Shinobi from Konoha , The Hidden Village in the Leaves, go to Hogwarts on a one year mission. They're job: protect the school from Death Eaters and the powerful Cloud Shinobi. Rated T for violence and language.
1. Chapter 1: Dumbledore

_Lionheart: This is just another one of my random harry potter crossover. I've seen quite a few of quite of these, and I'm sure many of you have seen similar ones. I have some new ideas that I'm sure will get you hooked._

_The story will take place after Sasuke has been retrieved. Here's a small bio for some of the characters that will be a part of this. There may or may NOT be other characters._

_Note: The biographies below only contain the Shinobi that have gone through some serious changes NOT all ninja that are going to be present in the story._

_Naruto/Sasuke: Both are now incredibly strong ninja, feared throughout the Shinobi world. They are known as the Konoha lightning flash. This is due to a combined attack through Hiraishin no Jutsu and Chidori. They still retain certain characteristics from when they were younger. Naruto, though he is more mature still likes to talk and brag, while Sasuke is as silent as ever. They remain Genin due to the fact that they have refused ANBU rank and are often traveling around the world. Usually when they return they are sent on s-rank missions. Rank: Genin_

_Kyuubi: Kyuubi, after finally 'understanding' that he will never be free gives up being mean to Naruto and actively take a part in Naruto's growth and abilities. He is much more social but often demands things of Naruto. He has opened himself up with Naruto so the two can communicate freely._

_Gaara: In the period since he's met Naruto, Gaara has become much more stable. He finds it more pleasant to be social, and has established a true family relationship with his siblings. Unlike the others, Gaara has changed dramatically. He is much more social and friendly, sometimes getting into a mood where he can't stop talking. Rank: Kazekage_

_Neji: He is less obsessed with the Hyuuga Branch and Main family issues. He is currently working to unite the two families, and the process is going very smoothly thanks to Hinata Hyuuga. As a decorated ANBU captain with many miraculous wins under his belt, he has become a force to be reckoned with. He has developed a relationship with Tenten, and the two are hardly ever apart, often going on missions together. Rank: ANBU captain._

_Shikamaru: Is still as smart as ever, though he is not as lazier as past years. The effect of Asuma's death still lingers on his mind, and has taken to smoking five packs daily and using trench knives. He is married to Temari of the sand. Rank: Jounin._

_And that basically wraps it up. Remember: Those aren't the only ninja going to Hogwarts._

* * *

**Dumbledore! Assemble the Best!**

"Tsunade-sama," called a voice. The Gondaime, Tsunade, blinked as she heard her name. "Huh?" Her brown wooden door was opened as a young, dark haired girl entered, carrying a single sheet of paper. Tsunade figured it was for her, but she inwardly hoped it wasn't. She couldn't help but noticed an unfamiliar seal with four animals on the back.

"So," said Tsunade, casually, trying not to sound too anxious, "what is it Shizune?" Shizune set down the letter in front of Tsunade, "It's some sort of mission request. There's an old man outside who would like to ask for some Shinobi for protection." Tsunade sunk in her chair, "Great, just when I thought the requests would stop. We're seriously low on ninja right now." Shizune looked on in sympathy as Tsunade muttered darkly to herself. "Alright," said Tsunade, "send him in."

"Yes Hokage-sama," replied Shizune, disappearing outside. She returned with an elderly man, with a long white beard. "Professor Dumbledore," she introduced, before exiting. Tsunade nodded and surveyed the man. His eyes twinkled and he wore a brown traveling cloak. "Ah, sit down," said Tsunade, waving him to a seat.

"Thank you," said Dumbledore as he took a seat. As Tsunade watched him sit, he suddenly began to speak. "By the way, my most sincere regards to the third Hokage. I heard of his passing, and I'm happy to say we were once very good friends." "You knew the third," asked Tsunade, sitting up straighter. Dumbledore nodded, "Ah yes, I'm happy to say I helped him out on one occasion. He told me to come here if I ever needed a ninja's assistance. So here I am."

Tsunade nodded, 'Damn, well, we can't overlook this.' "Alright, allow me to take a look at this, then," she said, as she opened the letter. She quickly scanned it, taking in the mission requests. "Let's see here…seven Shinobi for protection." Tsunade nodded, and turned to Dumbledore, "Seven Shinobi. That's quite a bit, and I'm not sure if there are enough available here in the village. Might I ask what you need them for? Perhaps seven is a greater number that actually needed."

Dumbledore nodded, "Of course! It's true I am unfamiliar with the styles of ninja, as I have had no past dealings with them. If seven is too much, I could certainly lower the amount. But enough of an old man's ranting. I need them to protect a school I run over in Europe. Recently an organization has been attacking it in the hopes of killing one boy. A very special boy, I might add. I need at least one ninja to guard this boy and the others to watch my school. One of my intelligence agents has reported of a possible major attack by this organization. I want my school properly defended. And a little about the attackers…they use magic abilities, kind of like the ninjutsu you perform. However we channel chakra through a small stick called a wand. Much inferior to your abilities I'm sure."

Tsunade nodded, "Magic users, got it? What can you tell me about this 'magic' as you call it?" Dumbledore's seemed to think for a bit, before he abruptly pulled out his wand, "perhaps a demonstration would be better?" Tsunade nodded. Dumbledore quickly stood, and flicked his wand. The closet in the corner burst into bright green flames.

If possible, Tsunade's eyes would have jumped from their sockets. They certainly bulged out slightly. "M-my, wardrobe," she stuttered. Dumbledore chuckled, "the fire is quite harmless. You can touch it even; it's quite cool." Skeptical, Tsunade cautiously reached into the green flame. To her surprise, the fire didn't feel like anything. As Tsunade pulled her hand back, and stared at as if she couldn't believe what had just happened, Dumblefore flicked his wand again and the fire vanished. "W-what else can those...wands do," asked Tsunade, staring at the stick Dumbledore held, as if she had never seen anything quite like it.

Dumbledore chuckled, "much more dangerous things, but they only shoot in straight lines. If your Shinobi are as good as the Third Hokage mentioned, they should not have any problems. Of course, it's best if they were aware of ptotential dangers at all times." Tsunade nodded, "I see. I assume these magic users you want protection from are advanced users of magic?" Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, their abilities are top notch. You can compare them to a Genin's level and a Jounin's level." Tsunade nodded, surprised Dumbledore knew so much. "Okay, allow me to call some of our Shinobi in."

Tsunade turned, but Dumbledore interrupted, "Also, apart from them, we have collected this from a recent attack by unfamiliar men. They were wearing this."

Tsunade surveyed a headband in Dumbledore's hand. Her eye's widened, as she recognized the symbol for the hidden village in the clouds. "Dumbledore-san, you may have a serious problem. I think seven is too small of a number if cloud ninja and magic users are the problem. I will see what I can do for you."

Before Dumbledore could reply, Tsunade shouted, "Shizune. Get in here." The dark haired girl rushed in, "Yes, Hokage-sama," she asked breathlessly. "Bring me Sakura Haruno, Shikamaru Nara, and Rock Lee, and Kakashi. And what ANBU are available?"

Shizune flipped through a notepad. "Uh…right now only Neji Hyuuga is available. Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame are scheduled to return in three months from their S-mission in the wind country." Tsunade groaned, "Is there anybody else? Is Jiriaya around?" Shizune shook her head, but after thinking a bit, suddenly brightened, "Well if you're looking for some strong ninja, Naruto and Sasuke have just returned from their trip to Sunagakure."

Tsunade straightened. "Really? Okay, bring those seven here right away!" Shizune nodded, "Yes Hokage-sama." Tsunade nodded to Dumbledore, who had been calmly watching some kids play outside. "Ah, so you have found seven suitable," asked Dumbledore. Tsunade nodded, "Don't worry. The team I've arranged for you is the best possible right now. They are perfectly balanced in skill, tactics, torture, interrogation, strength, and teamwork. You have no worries."

"Ah, that's good to hear," replied Dumbledore, "though I honestly hope no torture is going to be employed against my students?" "They are now under your command," replied Tsunade, "Whatever you command them to do, they will do. That is our Shinobi law. Most of are Shinobi have their own sense of justice. Just remember that as long as your students do not do anything that might make the ninja believe they are an enemy then they are safe. Basically, they do not stand for practical jokes from strangers…they have been taught to kill whatever they feel may cause harm." Dumbledore nodded, "So, what…"

A loud 'poof' suddenly interrupted him. Smoke filled the room and when it cleared, seven Shinobi were lined up. "Hokage-sama," they all greeted. Tsunade nodded, "It's good to see you back, Naruto…Sasuke." "Old Lady," greeted Naruto. "Lord Hokage," greeted Sasuke.

"I was wondering if you would accept a mission to Europe. A-rank." "Ah Naruto! In all your youthfulness you must accompany us," shouted Lee. Naruto and Sasuke exchanged a glance. "Sounds interesting," said Naruto, slowly. Sure, why not. What are we going to do?"

"Well, the seven of you are about to go on a mission to…" Tsunade paused and turned to Dumbledore. "I'm sorry, where was this school again?" "Europe…" replied Dumbledore, "And actually I can explain the mission details if you'd like." Tsunade nodded, "Go ahead."

"Well," said Dumbledore, "I am going to need you all come to a school called Hogwarts in Europe with me. There, one of you will need to protect a boy, named Harry Potter. He should be easy to find, as he is pretty famous. Another…possibly the one with white hair (Kakashi) will need to fill one of the teaching positions at my school. And one other thing, one of my intelligence agents has reported that a…well I suppose you can call them an evil society, will be making an attack on my school. I would prefer to have that attack stopped. And then, there have been violence from your kind…I believe Hokage-sama mentioned the hidden village of the cloud."

Whispers went around the group of ANBU. Shikamaru lazily raised a hand. "So, all we need to do is protect the school and…I suppose the students, including this Potter boy?" Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, and if I might add a suggestion. Some of you can blend in as students, so it wouldn't look suspicious. Harry and his friends have a knack for investigating anything suspicious. They find things out, sometimes when all others have failed."

Before anybody could reply, Tsunade suddenly agreed. "I think that is the best course of action. But how can we blend them in. Most of them are about twenty-five." "Twenty six," corrected Naruto. "Whatever…twenty six then," corrected Tsunade. Dumbledore stroked his beard, "Hm." He suddenly brightened, "Ah, I have an idea…I know a charm that will change their appearance. I can make them appear to be sixteen-year-old teenagers. Once the mission is done, I can change them back."

Once again, the leaf Shinobi began whispering to one another. "Kind of sounds like, Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Jutsu) to me," said Naruto, shrugging. Dumbledore nodded, "That's true," he said, relieved he had studied up some basic Japanese terms. "However, the charm I will place will not use up your chakra and will not weaken over time."

"Yes, that is a good idea," said Tsunade, "When will you need them and for how long?" Dumbledore appeared thoughtful, "I would prefer them right now if that's okay, and starting September I will need them for about nine months."

Tsunade nodded to her team, "You heard him. All of you will pack your bags and immediately return here for departure. Kakashi is in charge this mission and in charge of the teaching position." Kakashi, who had remained silent the whole time, looked up from his book of Icha Icha Tactics, "Right," he murmured. Shikamaru…you're in charge of organization and helping Kakashi decide who does what. You're also to report to me every month or if there's an emergency, telling me what the heck is going on!" Shikamaru nodded.

Tsunade nodded in response, "Now hurry up!" She waved her hand, and simultaneously all seven ninja disappeared. "My," added Dumbledore, "they certainly look like a mature group." Tsunade nodded, "Yes, they are some of the best we have here. And by the way, how will they be getting to Europe? We usually don't make trips beyond Japan."

Dumbledore smiled, "Oh, don't worry. I came prepared." Dumbledore promptly pulled out a junky old boot. Tsunade gave Dumbledore a look, though she trusted him over her suspicion. "So, what does it do," she asked.

Dumbledore nodded, "This is what we call a portkey. It's an ordinary item that has a charm placed on it. At exactly five tonight, this portkey will transport whoever is touching it to my office at Hogwarts. It's best that everyone is ready by then, or they will be left behind." Tsunade nodded, "That gives them an hour. So, let's talk about the payment then. Since this is a long term mission we can make a payment plan if that's all right."

Dumbledore shook his head, "No, that will be unnecessary. I will pay the full amount right now, just name it." Tsunade nodded, and images of sake and slots popped into her mind. Trying not to sound too happy, Tsunade named the price. Dumbledore appeared surprised, "I see. That is cheaper than expected. But here," he said, handing over a bag. Tsunade eagerly took the bag and shook hands with Dumbledore. "Thank you very much, and I guarantee the Shinobi will meet all your demands and expectations."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, "Ah, that is perfect. So, five o clock then." With that said, Dumbledore suddenly disappeared with a pop. The Hokage eagerly rubbed the bag of coins. She peeked inside, and nearly jumped for joy. Shizune stood nearby, frowning. "Try not to waste all of that in one go, Hokage-Sama." Tsunade just gave one of her grins.

**One Hour Later**

"It's almost five, everyone touch the boot," instructed Tsunade. "Uh, I'm definitely not touching that," complained Sakura. "I SHALL," shouted Lee. He instantly went up and grabbed the boot whole, "Ah, my youthful friends, this is not so bad. Neji frowned at his teammate's crazy talk, while the others groaned. "Touch it," ordered Tsunade. "How troublesome," replied Shikamaru, before touching the boot.

One by one, the other Konoha ninja touched the boot, with Kakashi being last. "This is gross," complained Naruto. "Shut up Naruto," shouted Sakura. Kakashi covered his face with his hand, 'This mission is going to be a pain.'

"Alright, it's thirty seconds until five. I want you to do exactly as Dumbledore-san asks of you. I also want you to show no mercy to those damn cloud ninja. Take them out for me." All the Konoha Shinobi grinned, "HAI, Hokage-Sama!"

At that moment each of the Shinobi felt as if something hooked to their naval and pulled them sharply. The brief moment was painful, and they all felt as if they were spiraling into nothingness.

Naruto felt his body turning incredibly fast, and was about to hurl, when he suddenly dropped and fell face first into onto a rough concrete floor. The other Shinobi, with the exception of Kakashi and Sakura fell into worse conditions. Lee and Neji were piled on top of each other, and Sasuke had landed headfirst. Shikamaru had nearly fallen into a suit of armor and lay on the floor whining about how he was about to hurl.

Dumbledore soon approached them, "Ah, I'm sorry about the rough trip. I should have warned the Gondaime about that. My sincerest apologies." Kakashi waved him off, "No problem. These guys are a bunch of babies, when they're not serious. Although they don't look it, they are quite all right. It'll take much more than that to wind them. In the meantime, what are our general instructions?"

Dumbledore held up a finger, signifying to wait and rummaged through his cloak. He pulled out a small stick with a pointed end.

By now, all of the ninja were up and they gathered around Dumbledore to observe the stick. "This is a wand," said Dumbledore, "It basically helps up channel our chakra, much like the way your hand signs channel your chakra. I am going to cast a spell on you six," said Dumbledore pointing to everyone except Kakashi, "to make you appear as sixteen your olds."

Naruto looked especially displeased, though he remained silent. After training with Jiriaya he had learned when to shut up and when to blabber. "After this, we will go down to the main hall," continued Dumbledore, "Kakashi will act as Professor for a new class I've introduced this year. The rest of you will be sorted into what we call houses, so that you can better watch the students. They will know nothing of you, so it's best to keep a low profile. You may be sorted into different houses, but you can still find ways to communicate, I'm sure."

"Can you arrange an area for us to train," asked Neji? Dumbledore nodded, "Sure, that can be arranged. I'll leave the specifics to Master Kakashi after I tell him how to make one. Is that all?"

Shikamaru raised a hand, "So, you mentioned houses. Can you describe them?" Dumbledore nodded, "A brief summary, though you will learn all about it soon. Here at Hogwarts, we have four houses: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. Each have students who have unique traits, and for times sake I won't describe it. You will be sorted into one of the houses by our sorter and you will watch the students in your house. I'm sure there will be at least one of you in each house. If not, then…we'll it'll just make jour job tougher."

Shikamaru nodded, "All right." "Anything else," asked Dumbledore. "Yeah," said Sasuke, "Which house is this Harry Potter in?" "That would be Gryffindor," replied Dumbledore, "And just a side note, he has many problems with the Slytherins. Well, many of the students do actually. I'd advise if one of you end up in Slytherin to keep a close eye on everyone in there. If you end up in Slytherin, you're mission to protect Harry is null and void immediately." The seven leaf Shinobi nodded.

Naruto groaned, "Too bad Shino isn't here. His bugs could have been useful." "Stop complaining Naruto," scolded Kakashi. "So, Dumbledore-Sensei," spoke Sakura, "You also mentioned Harry's friends, should we watch them closely too?" Dumbledore nodded, "Sure, though they are around Harry a lot. It shouldn't be too difficult."

"ALRIGHT, let's get started," shouted Lee, with a cheer. "Master Gai, I will train everyday, and defeat every cloud ninja. C'mon Naruto, we must do our best for the springtime of youth is running high." Dumbledore exchanged a glance with Kakashi, raising an eyebrow. "Knock it off, Lee," said Neji, though he was smiling slightly. "Anyway," said Dumbledore, "On with the spell."

**Five Minutes Later**

"Nice," noted Kakashi. He was staring at the familiar sixteen-year-old forms of all the ninja. "You all look so young…I got to used to seeing you so grown up," said Kakashi, shaking his head.

"Man, Sasuke-teme you look like a prick even when you were sixteen," pointed out Naruto. Sakura began to choke him immediately, while Sasuke shrugged, "And you still look like a dobe." Neji chuckled along with Lee and Shikamaru, while Naruto turned red under the combined pressure of Sakura's insane strength and embarrassment.

Dumbledore smiled at the sight of them, 'Reminds me of a certain trio,' he thought. "Alright, c'mon, let's go," said Kakashi, putting away his book. Dumbledore nodded and began to walk out of his room. He opened the doors, though stopped upon seeing another man there.

"Oh, Ollivander…dear me I apologize. I forgot you were out here." The short old man waved his hands, "Not a problem… not a problem. Now, where are the youngsters who need wands?" Dumbledore pointed behind him to the group of Konoha ninjas.

"Right…that seems to be in order," said Ollivander. He rummaged through his cloak and pulled out some wands. "Right…you with the blonde hair and in the orange, come here." Naruto appeared confused, though he stepped forward.

"Now, what is your name," asked Ollivander. "Uh, Naruto Uzumaki…of Konoha," replied Naruto, uncertainly. Ollivander searched through his wands, "Ah, yes, here we go. Take this one young man."

Ollivander handed an orange wand to Naruto, about ten inches long. "These were specially made on request by Dumbledore. I usually don't use these materials. That one contains the tail of a fox…and I assure you it was no easy task to get one." Before Naruto could reply, Ollivander looked up, "next please."

For the next ten minutes, Ollivander handed out specially made wands to each of the Shinobi. When he was done, each of the Shinobi stared at their wands, wondering what they would do with them. "Here," said Dumbledore, seeing their faces. He gave them each a handbook.

"This handbook will go over basic rules here at Hogwarts…ones I expect all of you to follow. It also contains a list of items you need for daily classes here…all of which I have bought for you. They will be sent to the common rooms of whatever house you get in. I would recommend you read through it and some of the books that will be in your room. I'll leave that up to you."

The Shinobi all nodded, and Dumbledore led them outside. Before he descended the stairs "Now, before we head downstairs…just a reminder, but the students are unaware of your abilities. I'd like to ask you keep it that way unless absolutely necessary. The staff will be notified of your presence, so you are exempt from the curfew rules. Just to be safe, it's best if one or two of you…preferably most discreet, to roam the halls, while the others keep a low profile."

"Don't worry," replied Kakashi, "none of them will cause any trouble. As for who will roam the halls, I think Sakura and Neji are the best for that. They are the quietest and least likely to…get sidetracked." Kakashi glanced at Naruto and Lee, and sweat dropped. Dumbledore nodded, and then turned, "Let's go then."

* * *

Lionheart: Well…I think that's a good start. For all of my Back to the Beginning fans, this doesn't mean that I won't update it. Back to the beginning chapters will still be uploaded every Sunday or Monday. Occasionally if the site is down or doc manager is down, it will be postponed. You can guarantee i have it written. 

As for this story, it will be updated from time to time. I'd like to see how many people like it before continuing. Leave a review or send an email…how you think it is. And if you have any suggestions for houses please put them in the review. Also requests for any other character you might like to see

The cast of Naruto characters so far are: Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Neji, Shikamaru, Gaara, Kankuro, Temari, and Kakashi (though he is taking the role of a professor.).


	2. Chapter 2: The Mission Begins

Lionheart: Yo, another new chapter from me. I finally found time to write a new chapter for Naruto/Hogwarts. I was pretty surprised by the reviews I was sent. Thank you everyone who supported me through it. I really appreciate it.

Many of you mentioned you couldn't wait to see Gaara; I won't let you down now. One of you mentioned your distaste for yaoi. You definitely WON'T be disappointed. I hate yaoi. (Sorry for all you yaoi lovers, but as a male, I just can't see guyXguy working in fanfiction.)

Note: Many of you are probably wondering (Dude, where the hell have you been?) So sorry, but my computer crashed, deleting all the files that I had saved, including the five last chapters of "Back to the Beginning."

The reason I didn't restart it right away, was because I kind of got lazy, Hehe. Anyway, I'll do my best to try and finish it up. There's not much left anyways.

Also, I have a new story I currently working on, and it focuses on Naruto, training a new team of Genin. Personally, I like this story a little better, because I have a little more room for creativity than 'Back to the Beginning'. When it's up, check it out.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**The Mission Begins!**

The seven Shinobi followed Dumbledore out the door, and down a flight of stairs. As they walked, Sasuke and Naruto drifted to the back. "Hey, Sasuke, so what do you think so far," asked the blonde, curiously, "about this mission I mean?"

Sasuke shrugged, "feels like it's baby-sitting. Still, we should be on the lookout for cloud ninja; they aren't exactly pals with us." Naruto chuckled, "C'mon, no cloud ninja is going to beat us. Remember last year; they sent those ANBU after us. Big mistake!"

Naruto punched the air, imitating his win over one particularly brutal cloud ninja. Sasuke shook his head, though he was smiling, "Don't let your ego get the best of you Naruto. I made that mistake once…"

Naruto smiled seeing how much Sasuke had opened up since his defeat. 'Wow, Sasuke…you've really changed since I beat your ass down.' As if Sasuke could tell what Naruto was thinking, he said, "Don't worry Naruto. I'll beat you next time."

With that, Sasuke chuckled lightly and walked ahead, leaving Naruto to stare blankly at his friends retreating form, "Damnit, how does he always know what I'm thinking."

Moments later, the group arrived at a large set of double doors. Dumbledore paused and turned, "Okay, the students are awaiting you behind this door. When you go in, all you need to do is walk up the center aisle, where one of my professors will be waiting. Do exactly as she says." Dumbledore waited, making sure each of them nodded, before turning to Kakashi.

"Well, then… the two of us will be off." Kakashi raised an eyebrow, but regardless, followed after Dumbledore. As he left, glanced back at his team, 'God, I hope this doesn't turn into a disaster.'

Meanwhile, the others turned back to the door. Shikamaru casually stepped up, and took out his cigar from his mouth. "You ready?" Neji, Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, and Lee all nodded. They were all anxious to see what was beyond the doors. Shikamaru shrugged, and opened the door slowly.

A bright orange light met them, as they walked through, and took in their surroundings. The hall was lit dimly with large orange lights. The ceiling took the shape of the sky outside, and for a moment the Shinobi thought there was no ceiling.

"Nice scenery," said Naruto, casually, "realizing the 'sky' was just an imitation. "It's not Genjutsu…interesting," noted Sasuke. "My Byakugan tells me it is the ceiling…yet…it's not," said Neji, vaguely. The group looked at Neji, who stared back, "Don't worry; no one saw me activate it." Shikamaru sighed, as he turned to see the rest of the hall.

Directly down the center path was a red rug that led to a stool. An old lady wearing long black robes, and a pointed hat awaited them. A group of children huddled close together in front of her. And behind them, were three familiar faces.

"Oh," cried out Lee, a little too loudly. Neji quickly nudged his friend, "Shh, we're not supposed to attract attention. Keeping a low profile means not jumping every time we see someone we know." Lee tensed up, and tried to smile, "Oops." The others wisely kept their poker faces on, not wanting to repeat Lee's mistake.

"I guess that's the professor Dumbledore-San mentioned," whispered Shikamaru, nudging his head toward an old lady. "Right," said Sasuke, as the group slowly proceeded forward. "I feel like I'm the center of attention," whispered Naruto to Sakura.

"You idiot. That's because you are the center of attention," whispered Sakura, back, "they're all staring at us…at me! Stupid kids, don't they have anything better to look at?"

Many eyes followed the seven Shinobi as they slowly made their way to the front. Most of the boys kept their eyes on Sakura, and whistled as she passed by, making the kunoichi more than just a little on edge. The girls, not wanting to be outdone, did their best to get noticed by Neji, Sasuke, and Naruto, all three of them, doing their best to keep their eyes forward.

And in front, three pairs of eyes trained themselves on the group. The one female whispered to the other two, "Looks like they finally showed up." The male on her right, a large bulky teen with purple markings on his face snorted, "Hn, you mean…'Shikamaru finally came,' don't you," he whispered. The female blushed, "You idiot."

The third male, keeping his eyes focused on a particular blonde, said quietly, "Shut up Temari…Kankuro! We'll talk later." Kankuro frowned, "Pfft, fine Gaara!" Gaara resisted the urge to smile.

Back with the leaf shinobi, the guys found more than a few pairs of eyes trained on them. The majority of them belonged to women. "Stay together guys…you guys don't know it, but fan girls are crazy," mouthed Sasuke. Neji tried to chuckle, but he felt really nervous, "S-so, the great Uchiha is nervous with a few girls around?" Sasuke's face darkened, "You have no idea."

Without any serious incident, although there was one, where Sakura had to forcefully push away a small girl groping for Sasuke, the group made their way to the stool. The old lady eyed them all, and introduced herself. "Welcome to Hogwarts," she said simply, "Now, you all have a basic grasp of the rules, so all that's left to do is to sort you into your appropriate houses. So, when I call your name, please come up to the stool, and place this hat on your head."

The woman held a pointed, blue hat that looked as if it had been around for years, up, so everyone could see, before placing it on the stool. She then opened up a scroll of paper and began calling names.

As the sorting took place, the leaf Shinobi, split into two groups. "Lee, Sakura, and Naruto, you're group one," whispered Shikamaru, "stand somewhere else. Try to keep talking to a minimum. And get looking out for Potter. He's in Gryffindor, remember; it's that one with the red banners with lions on it," said Shikamaru, watching a boy who was placed in Gryffindor sit there.

Naruto, Sakura, and Lee nodded, and inconspicuously melted into the crowd of kids, leaving the remaining three together. "Alright, we'll make up team two," said Shikamaru, "we're now directly in the middle of Naruto's and Gaara's team, though I have no idea what they're doing here!"

"Backup, most likely," whispered Neji, trying to catch one of the sand shinobi's eyes. Shikamaru held him, "No, we'll talk to them later. Like you told Lee; we need to stay cool for now. Let's just wait out this sorting thing for now. I've got it all set up. We need to rig this sorting so we each end up in the houses we want." Neji and Sasuke exchanged a glance, "What houses do we want," they asked, in unison.

Shikamaru waited for a boy who had just been called to pass him before speaking again, "We need to retain these groups of three. Gaara's team should go into one house, our team in another, and Naruto's team in the last." "What about the last house," asked Sasuke?

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, "I don't like those guys," said Shikamaru, looking over at the Slytherin table, "they have a bad feel to them; kind of like people who would backstab you without any hesitation. We're just going to have to stay away from them and set up some something so we can keep an eye on them. Bunshin (Clone) wouldn't be a bad idea. Besides, like Dumbledore said, if we get in their house, all chances of protecting Potter are gone. We can't handicap ourselves like that."

The other two nodded. "Anyway," said Shikamaru, "no more talking anymore. The crowd's thinning. Sasuke, you know a jutsu for telepathy right? Tell my message about the houses to Naruto and Gaara. Make sure they keep quiet also." Sasuke nodded, and closed his eyes, reaching out for Naruto and Gaara.

Meanwhile, all of the kids, save for the ten shinobi had been sorted. The leaf Shinobi found themselves the center of attention, even worse than before. They were lucky as Dumbledore stood, "Welcome…welcome to another year at Hogwarts. Now, as some of you may have noticed… we still have a group waiting to be sorted. Some of you may be wondering why they appear older than most first years. They are!"

Shikamaru groaned, 'C'mon old man, get on with it.' "The ten of them," continued Dumbledore, "are actually foreign exchange students from a school in Japan. They will remain with us throughout the year, learning our style of magic along with this year's sixth year students, and then leave at the end of term. I expect all of you to treat them with the same respect, courtesy, and honesty you treat your peers with. So, then, let's begin they're sorting."

The old lady stepped out once again, with a different scroll. Opening she said, in a clear tone, "Haruno, Sakura!" Boys whistled, as Sakura slowly stepped up to the stool. Confidently she placed the hat on her head, as she had seen so many before her do. She wasn't startled when she heard a voice in her head.

"_Hm? A Konoha Kunoichi, eh? I've never sorted any of your kind before!" _Sakura smirked, 'Hmph! You probably won't be sorting any more of us after this year.' The Kunoichi heard a gasp in head, _"Oh, there are more of you? Well, I won't keep you waiting then. So, let's see what's inside the head of a Shinobi."_

Sakura waited calmly, as the hat muttered to itself._ "Hm, nice…nice. Smart, that's Ravenclaw there. Also, you have a natural ability to be able to think independently and critically; that's definitely Ravenclaw. What else? What else; don't want to put you someplace too soon. Oh ho, a strong determination to protect those around you, with your dreams of being a medical ninja. Ah, I see…a certain boy deep in your heart? I wonder if he is here," _wondered the hat, as Sakura's cheeks turned pink, 'You shut up about that.'

"_No need to get angry," _said the hat quickly, _"but anyway…that could be Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. Mm, what else is there to know? Ah, this…your childhood; you used to have…" _The hat paused and pondered over something. It soon decided for it said, _"never mind. I know exactly where to put you."_

Before Sakura could wonder what the hat was going to say before it stopped, she heard it yell, "Gryffindor!" The kunoichi blinked, but quickly placed down the hat, and ran to the table on the middle right. She chose an empty seat, next to a brown haired girl, a dark-haired boy with a lightning shaped scar, and a red-head with freckles.

"Hi," greeted the bushy haired girl, with a warm smile, while the two boys she sat with watched carefully. Sakura smiled back, ignoring the stares of the boys around her, and said, "Hi, it's nice to meet you. My name is Sakura."

The other girl smiled back, "I'm Hermione…Hermione Granger. Welcome to Hogwarts. So, do you like it? How is it compared to your school in Japan?" Sakura bit her lip, trying to think of a reasonable and believable story. She quickly came up with one. Faking nervousness, she said, "Umm, well, it's very different. Like, this Great Hall… we don't have those. We generally eat alone with just our sects." Hermione blinked, "sects?" Sakura nodded, "Yeah, think of them like your houses; except we live together in sects. We usually don't interact with others outside our sect at our school though. There are five sects, Hidden Leaf, Hidden Sand, Hidden Cloud, Hidden Mist, and Hidden Stone."

"So, how about those guys," interrupted the red-head, pointing to where the remaining Shinobi stood. Sakura hesitated; unsure of how she would answer that question, but luckily she was bought some time, when Hermione lightly smacked him. "Ron! Don't interrupt other people's conversation; it's rude."

The red-head, Ron, groaned as he rubbed his head, "Geez, Mione, calm down. I was just asking a question." The third boy laughed, "So…umm Sakura; are they in the same sect as you?" Sakura smiled, "Well, we came in three different groups. The two boys over there; you know the blonde and the guys with the bushy eyebrows? They're from my sect, the leaf sect. The other two groups are from separate sects. I think they're sand and umm...mist."

"Oh," said the dark-haired boy. "So, how did you get here?" "Oh, umm…we took something called a p-pot-key," said Sakura, slowly, unsure of the exact term. The trio laughed. "You mean a port key," asked Ron. Sakura frowned, "Y-yeah, I think so. Professor Dumbledore had us all touch a boot…and we were all transported here." "Yeah," said the dark-haired boy, "that's definitely a port key! That must have hurt...since it was your first time. Oh…by the way, I'm Harry…Harry Potter." Sakura's mouth almost dropped into a frown, but the kunoichi stopped just in time. 'Harry Potter…this is him? Well, part one of the mission completed. Found Harry Potter.'

As Sakura greeted the trio, the old lady called the next name on her list.

"Hyuuga, Neji!" "Good luck, Neji," whispered Sasuke, as Neji stepped forward. "Watch out for the fan girls." Neji gave Sasuke a look, before attempting to calmly walk up to the stool. He managed to keep his poker face, and picked up to the hat. Slowly, the Hyuuga prodigy placed the hat on his head.

"_Aha, another Shinobi! Excellent, excellent," _exclaimed the hat, in Neji's head.

Neji blinked, 'Please, get on with the sorting. I don't like it when people stare at me.'_"Alright…no need to get all ninja on me," _said the hat, _"so, allow me to take a look. Let's see…you are a strong-willed type…confident, I see. That would make a good Slytherin, but for some reason, I don't think you would fit well in there. What else…you shinobi are so interesting. You're past is quite dark I see…you father was sacrificed for the good of your village, and until recently you have been kept in the dark about it. Hm… but you've changed now, so that doesn't help. _

_You used to be boastful…but…hmm, who's this blonde I keep seeing in your memories." _Neji smirked, 'That's Naruto Uzumaki, one of the strongest Shinobi in Konoha village. He's here with us today.' _"Oh,"_ said the hat, _"Well, I can't wait to sort him. But, meanwhile, back to you. Oh, like the first one, you are a born genius; easily able to think critically. That would make a good Ravenclaw…yes I think that's where I will put you."_

Neji sighed, when the hat shouted out "Ravenclaw!" 'About time,' thought the Hyuuga, as he walked over to a table underneath blue banners with a raven on them. (A/N: It's a raven right?) He was quickly surrounded by girls and boys alike, all eager to know more about him.

"Right," said the old lady, looking at her list, "Next is… Lee, Rock." "Yosh, I am ready," shouted the Taijutsu specialist, enthusiastically. As the whole hall stifled their laughter at Lee's bushy eyebrows, his bowl haircut, and his spandex uniform, Shikamaru and Sasuke shared an embarrassed look.

"Trust Lee to make a scene without even doing anything," said Shikamaru, watching as Lee gaily skipped up to the hat. Sasuke frowned, "We're screwed…between him and Naruto…I can't bear to watch how one disaster will lead to the next." "I think Naruto is the least of our problems," said Shikamaru, looking over at the sand trio, darkly. He caught the eye of a certain sand kunoichi, who smirked at him. Shikamaru groaned, 'Why did 'she' have to come?'

Meanwhile, the sorting hat was carefully analyzing Lee's personality._ "Not a bad soul here. I see strong determination…you were born with little talents, but through your hard efforts you became a powerful ninja. You are loyal to your fellow comrades, and would protect them with your life. Hm…what else. Ah, you have a great spirit. You're an outgoing person; yet you know when the time to be serious is. I think I know where to place you."_

Lee cheered as the hat yelled, "Hufflepuff." The green, spandex wearing ninja ran over to the table underneath the yellow banners, where a crowd of roaring students awaited him.

"Looks like this might be so bad after all," said Shikamaru to Sasuke. Sasuke opened his eyes, "Whatever. You're next, Shikamaru. Try not to be too lazy, walking up there. I don't like waiting."

Shikamaru smirked, as his name was called, "You'll never change, Uchiha." The genius sighed as Sasuke chuckled, and dug his hands into his pockets as he walked up. Shikamaru placed the hat on his head and sat down on the stool, with a bored expression.

"_Hm, let's see. Very smart…oh a real genius type, are you? Ravenclaw would be good for you, but allow me to delve a little deeper,_" said the hat. 'How troublesome…a talking hat,' thought Shikamaru, thinking of how he could be watching clouds, or smoking cigars.

"_Interesting…real interesting. You used to be the laziest boy in your village… That is until your Sensei was murdered before your eyes. I can see the change you went through; how you slowly pulled yourself together and became a better ninja for his sake and for yours. You're a tactical and military genius. You Shinobi are so interesting,"_ said the hat, gleefully, _"I've never had so much fun sorting students."_

Shikamaru froze, and raised an eyebrow, 'What did I get myself into,' he thought. _"Well, you have excellent leadership skills; that would make a good Gryffindor, yes I can see the determination and the 'will of fire' you have. On second thought…I think maybe Ravenclaw is good for you. You seem to get along well with the Hyuuga boy anyway." _"Ravenclaw," shouted the hat!"

Shikamaru quickly pulled off the hat, and walked over to the Ravenclaw table. The Jounin took next to Neji, who gladly let him sit in between him and an overly flirtatious girl.

"Sabaku no Gaara," announced the lady. Gaara slowly walked up to the stool, passing Naruto and Sasuke along the way. He raised his eyes to them for a brief moment, so only they would notice, before taking his seat and placing the hat on his head.

At the Gryffindor table, Ron and Harry watched Gaara's sorting carefully. "Definitely Slytherin, huh, mate," asked Ron. "Could be," replied Harry, "can't tell for sure. I mean…it could go any way." "But 'arry, look him. He looks like he would jump out and kill us all."

Harry sighed, "Ron, your exaggerating!" "Really, Ron, grow up," interrupted Hermione, "for all you know, he could be a Gryffindor." Ron snorted, "Fat chance." Sakura gave the red-head a side glance, 'Now I can see why we need to be careful around these guys. That Hermione girl is smart, and that Potter and the Weasley kid are just nosy. If they catch any slip-ups, we're done for. Good thing Lee didn't end up in Gryffindor.'

Meanwhile, the hat calmly talked to Gaara inside his mind, while delving into the man's memories and emotions. _"Hm, now let's see…whoa! Quite a strange one you are; very different from the others! You used to be a cold-blooded killer; a shinobi who lived for blood. Now, you've changed; you're more social, kind and caring, respectful. My, you're a difficult one to place. I'll have to spend a little more time on you."_

Gaara remained silent, clear of thoughts, as he waited for the hat to finish going through his memories. _"Well, I've found some suggestive traits. You care about your siblings and your village's inhabitants very much. You would die to protect them; and you've already done so. Hm, odd…oh I see, you were brought back to life. I could place you in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff; which would you prefer?"_

'Put me with Uzumaki,' said Gaara, simply. The hat didn't speak for a moment, searching Gaara's memories for whoever Naruto Uzumaki was. The hat quickly found a strong memory of their fight. 'The blonde boy I'm thinking about,' said Gaara, trying to picture Naruto in his mind's eye, 'is Naruto Uzumaki.' The hat was silent again, and when it finally spoke, its voice was soft, _"I see…so he is the one responsible for the changes you've undergone. You've had a tough life Sabaku no Gaara…but I know where to put you now."_

"Gryffindor," shouted the hat. Hermione smiled triumphantly, while Ron's mouth dropped, "No way." "Told you," whispered Hermione. Sakura smiled, 'Well, this might not be too bad. Now, we just need one more. Please be Sasuke…or Naruto…'

The hall was silent, as Gaara calmly removed the hat, and made his way towards the Gryffindor table, where the students were half-heartedly clapping.

The Kazekage took a seat next to Sakura, and stared back as she and Harry's group trained their eyes on him. "Hi," said Gaara, uncertainly, and suddenly. Sakura stifled a giggle, while Harry and Ron introduced themselves, nervously. "Hi, mate, name's Harry. And that's Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger."

"Pleasure," replied Gaara, shaking their hands. "Umm," interrupted Ron suddenly, pointing at the gourd on Gaara's back, "what's that?" Now that the question had been brought out, a whole crowd of Gryffindors gathered around Gaara's gourd poking at it and asking questions about it. The kazekage, crossed his arms, and answered each question, one-by-one.

"Next," announced the old lady, "Sabaku no Kankuro." Hermione shushed Harry and Ron, while Sakura and Gaara turned to watch the sand Jounin's sorting. "Okay, look at this guy…emo if I'm right. Just look at all that make-up," said Ron, "definitely Slytherin." Gaara chuckled lightly, "It's face paint." Ron blinked, 'Huh.' "Same thing," he said, while Sakura and Hermione both hit Ron, "Shut up!" The former buried his head in his arms, "Great; now I have two girls on my back." Harry laughed, "I'm betting Hufflepuff, mate," said Harry, mischievously, throwing the challenge out.

Ron stopped from trying to avoid Hermione. "You're on," he said, with determination."

Meanwhile, with some amount of disgust, Kankuro threw the sorting hat on his head, and with an annoyed look, sat down. The sorting hat began his analysis immediately.

_"Hm…Hm…so you are the brother of Sabaku no Gaara."_ 'What of it,' thought Kankuro? _"Hm, well, I can tell you're very different from him. You have a lot of pride and confidence; you're quite boastful sometimes. That would make a good Slytherin. But, you can also be a kind, patient, loving brother, who cares for his younger siblings. I can tell you've changed since you noticed the difference in your brother's attitude on life; you've started to actually respect and love him as a brother. You two are quite loyal to each other…though I'm sure you know all about that."_

Kankuro turned red, 'I don't know what you're talking about.' The sorting hat's laughter sounded like a constant ringing Kankuro's head, irritating the Jounin immensely. 'Will you hurry and put me somewhere; I'm getting tired of your laughter.'

_"Very well, I know where I should put you." _"Hufflepuff," shouted out the hat. Kankuro nearly ripped the hat off; he certainly used a little more than necessary force. While the sand Jounin stalked over to the Hufflepuff table, Harry clapped Ron on the back. "What'd I say, mate…I win."

Ron groaned, "I thought for sure he was Slytherin." "Well, you were wrong, Ron," said Hermione. "You shouldn't judge my brother by his looks," interrupted Gaara casually, "he's actually a very loyal person, once he gets to know you." Ron's mouth dropped, "H-he's your brother? Really?"

Gaara blinked, before nodding. Ron's mouth dropped even further, "Whoa, whoa, I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything I said, mate…just a joke…you know." Gaara shook his head, smiling, while Sakura, Hermione, and Harry shared a laugh.

"So," said Harry, who noticed the next name called was 'Sabaku no Temari,' "is that girl your sister, Gaara?" The red-haired sand Kazekage turned in his seat, "Yes, that is Temari. Looks likes she's going into Hufflepuff." And so it was. Quickest to be placed, Temari barely placed the hat on her head, before it yelled Hufflepuff without a second thought.

"Wow, it must suck to have been split up from your brother and sister, right," asked Hermione. Gaara shrugged, "Well, if what you have been telling me about classes is true, then I'm sure I'll see them around. And besides, it's nice to get out and meet new people once in awhile."

From behind the trio, Sakura's eyes widened, 'Wow, Naruto wasn't joking when he said Gaara changed…no not just changed. He's like a completely whole new person.'

"So, tell me about your sect," said Hermione, suddenly, interested. Gaara blinked, and was about to ask, 'What sect,' when he caught Sakura's eye. She mouthed, 'Just play along.' 'Hm, we're going to have a talk about this,' thought Gaara. Out loud he said, "Well, not much to say about it. It's not very different; our sects are like family…we study with them, train with them, eat with them, sleep in the same room, you know…the usual." Hermione looked skeptical, "Well, there's got to be some differences."

Gaara exchanged a look at Sakura. The latter gave the former a shrug, so Gaara scratched his head to buy some time for him to come up with some story. "Well, I'm sure our training is different from yours. I did a bit of reading on European schools, and apparently you use…wands, is it?" Hermione brightened, "Oh yeah, so you guys don't use wands? Then how do you cast spells, magic?" Gaara blinked at the sudden curiosity, while Harry and Ron gave him looks of sympathy. "Better answer everything in one go, mate," said Harry, "or she'll never stop."

Meanwhile, only two more Shinobi waited to be sorted. "Uchiha, Sasuke!" Sasuke slowly walked up to the sorting look, keeping his cool façade. The Uchiha kept his hands in his pocket, and didn't look anywhere, except directly in front. He could literally feel the stares he was getting from the female population and it wasn't helping him keep calm.

The Uchiha closed his eyes as he placed the hat on his head, determined not to look at anyone. The sorting hat immediately pointed this out say, _"Well, you don't look like the social type to me. Hm, you are friend of that 'Naruto' no? Well, let's see what I can tell about you."_

_"You lived a pretty sad childhood; all your entire family and your clan were murdered by your elder brother. You sought to exact your revenge, even turning to evil and abandoning your friends for your one goal. And then…you were defeated by this same Naruto…and the two of you are best friends now. Hm… you're going to be a tough one to sort." _

'Don't put me in Slytherin…I know your thinking about it,' thought Sasuke, suddenly, 'I-I don't want to go there.'_ "Oho,"_ replied the hat, cheerfully, _"that is interesting. Would you be interested to know that Slytherin is actually the best place for your growth? You're a born-genius as your friends call you, you like to maintain your reputation of being the best, and you're cunning, tricky and very complicated. Many of your kind I always place in Slytherin. You have all the traits necessary for it. So tell me…why you not want to go to Slytherin?"_

'It's true that I once turned to evil, and abandoned my friends, but I was brought out of my stupidity by Naruto, and I realize now that friendship is the strongest bond, and the strongest strength a person can rely and draw upon. The power of friendship…that is what I learned and I don't think Slytherin is going to help me with that. I want to change myself; I'm not proud for what I did, but I can't change my past. All I can do is try to live with my sins and repent for them.'

The hat was silent for a moment, blocking out its thought from Sasuke. _"I see…that is a very strong argument there. Very well, I shall not place you in Slytherin. You will be…" _"Ravenclaw," shouted the hat.

Sasuke smirked as he placed the hat on the stool. He sat between Neji and Shikamaru, disappointing the females, who were already plotting to catch him alone in a hallway. The dark-haired Uchiha carefully shared a glance with Shikamaru and Neji. He mouthed, 'I'm leaving it up to you to keep them away from me.'

Shikamaru slapped his head, 'How troublesome,' while Neji groaned, "we're screwed."

The old lady rolled up her scroll, and nodded to Naruto. "And Uzumaki, Naruto." Naruto, all grins, waved to Sakura as he confidently strode up to the hat. The blonde cheerfully placed the hat on his head, and waited for its decision.

_"Uzumaki, Naruto…you can't imagine how long I've waited to sort you. I've heard all sorts of tales about you…how you defeated the sand boy, the Hyuuga, and the Uchiha kid."_

Naruto's smile broadened, 'Ha, yeah I beat all of them real good.' The hat laughed for a moment, _"Well, you're a real bragger alright. But I can sense that you have the power and ability to back up your words. You're like that Gaara boy I can see; you have some dark presence in your body; I'll just stay away from that. I see in your memories that you were shunned as a child because of this beast; you were forced to live a lonely life, devoid of happiness. But despite all of your bad luck, all the dirty looks people gave you, you never gave up hope. And then, it all paid off. You became stronger, and slowly people learned to respect you." _

Naruto paid close attention as memories of his childhood flashed through his mind. 'Actually, hat, I was close to giving up. If it hadn't been for Iruka-Sensei, I might have turned out just like Gaara.'_ "But you didn't,"_ replied the hat, cheerfully, _"And instead… you went from a lowly disrespected little boy, to one of the strongest in your village. Possibly even 'the' strongest. You know naturally that one can change his destiny through hard work and determination. You are loyal to all of your friends, and you have a strong sense of right and wrong. All of these traits, experiences, and memories tell me to put you in this house…" _"Gryffindor!"

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Lionheart: Oddly, enough, I thought this chapter was crap. Tell me what you think though in a short review; maybe I'm just overthinking this a bit. But it seriously was damn hard write for the hat.

Note: When the hat was sorting Naruto, it said that Gaara had a 'dark presence.' Key word: HAD (I know he no longer contains Shukaku, the one tailed raccoon.) Also, NO YAOI.

Sorry about not putting anything for Temari. When I look at her and Kankuro, I think…same thing, okay! That's why really.

Anyway, ciao; I hope to have the final five chapters of Back to the Beginning up soon. Thanks for hanging around.


	3. Chapter 3: First Night

_Lionheart: Well, it's been a long time. I haven't updated in a long time, and I know all of you have been waiting for this. So, without further ado, I present, my first update in three…or four months. I haven't written in a long time, so if it seems bad, please forgive me. Ahem…Onward to Harrypotter/Naruto Chapter Three. Thanks for waiting._

_Replies: Well, here is the general stuff. There is no yaoi. There "may" be pairings, though I admit, I am no good at writing romance. Someone, though I forgot who, wondered how they were able to speak English. For now, let us say that as shinobi, they are required to know many languages._

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**First Night**

A roar of cheers came from the Gryffindor table as Naruto, grinning confidently, set down the sorting hat and staggered over. Taking a seat next to Sakura, Naruto raised a hand in greeting to the trio.

"Hey, mate," said Harry, extending a hand, "I'm Harry Potter. This one here is Ron Weasley. And that's Hermione Ganger."

Naruto, still grinning, took each hand's and shook them, before turning to Sakura. "So, having fun Sakura."

His voice was layered with humour and good-fun, but, over the years, Sakura had learned many different ways in communicating with her fellow shinobi. One way, though it was often unreliable, was through the eyes.

And so, oblivious to it all, Harry missed the real meaning of the message. 'So, this is the one, correct?' Sakura, clearing her throat responded, "Oh yeah, a blast Naruto. Nice to see you made it in the same house." Which translated to, 'Yes, and we need to be careful around them.'

If Naruto got the message he didn't show it. Instead he nodded and turned back to Harry. "Nice place." Harry chuckled, "Well, we've been trying to compare it with your school."

Hermione, eager as always jumped in, "Oh, right! Do tell us about your sect."

Sakura inwardly groaned, 'Oh no. Naruto please don't blow this.'

It was a tough situation. Naruto had no idea what sects they were talking about. And he couldn't exactly stop time and ask Sakura. He would need to buy time and gamble with a few choice words and hope what he said wouldn't make things worse. It was lucky for him that Sakura intervened.

"Oh yeah," shouted the Kunoichi. To Naruto's relief, the trio's head turned to regard Sakura, and whatever it was she was bursting to say. "Naruto is in my sect, the 'leaf' sect. He and I take the same classes and we share the same dormitory as each other. Kind of like your houses.

Naruto, getting the picture nodded, "Yeah, that's right. We both take the same classes too."

Oblivious to the fact she was being deceived, Hermione clapped her hands together in a girlish sort of way. "Wow that sounds exciting. So, you two already knew each other well before you came here? That's pretty nice, being with people you know."

Sakura nodded, "yeah. Well, we also know the other students that came here, like Gaara for example. Aren't you in the…err…Sand Sect, Gaara?"

Gaara nodded, "that's right. We sometimes share classes with the leaf sect. I don't know if you guys do that here."

Harry's face fell a little, at the mention of sharing classes. He quickly glanced at the Slytherin table, "Oh yeah, we definitely share classes."

Eager to change the subject back to their school, Hermione quickly asked, "So, Gaara, you were telling us about the wand less magic you guys do."

Gaara shared another look with Sakura. His eyes clearly showed annoyance, 'Sakura, why did you get us into this?' his look plainly asked.

"Well," said Naruto, interrupting, much to everyone's surprise, "I understand that you all cast spells by channeling magical energy through a wand."

Hermione nodded slowly, wondering what he was getting at.

To demonstrate, Naruto pulled out his own orange wand, "so basically something like this?"

The blonde waved his wand in some way and muttered something. And, to Sakura and Gaara's amazement, pink petals sprouted from the tip. Well, amazement was an understatement. Sakura's mouth literally dropped, and Gaara had to blink several times to make sure he was seeing correctly. Even the trio seemed impressed. It was clear that, for a complete novice to do a spell out of the blue was pretty amazing.

"Where did you learn that," asked Sakura, half surprised, and half jealous.

"Oh, just out of this book that Dumbledore gave us," said the Genin, pulling out the said book. Sakura frowned, as she reached into her bag and pulled out the same book, "Oh yeah, I forgot about these," she admitted. Hermione snatched it out of her hands and she quickly skimmed through it. Harry and Ron looked through it as well.

"Blimey," muttered Ron, in surprise, "this book has spells, charms, potions instructions, and other information that we all learned the last five years."

"Well, duh," said Hermione, as if she had expected it, "How do you think they would be able to catch up with the sixth year's course work without any prior knowledge of our magic?" Ron's frowned, "Oh yeah, so you guys must be WAY behind." "Well, we can help you guys along," offered Harry, "Hermione here is like a genius," he said, causing the girl to blush a little.

"Not really," said Hermione, "I just study more than you guys." While the shinobi chuckled, Harry and Ron shared a glance. "Just study," asked Harry, incredulously. "As if," added Ron, sarcastically.

Hermione responded with a glare, before turning back to Naruto, "Go ahead, continue. We can ignore these two children."

Naruto laughed heartily before nodding, "Yeah, so Dumbledore gave all of us one of these. Truth is, I only got to take a peek at it while we came down here. I guess once we settle down a bit more, I can take a better look. In any case, that was with the wand. Now, we channel our magical energies through hand signs."

"Huh," said Hermione, Ron, and Harry simultaneously.

Naruto nodded to Sakura and Gaara, and the three immediately went through a series of hand signs, though they did it slow enough so the trio could see. Finally stopping, the trio was amazed by a cloud of smoke that appeared. When it had cleared they could see three miniature figures that closely resembled a doll form of their casters.

This time it was Hermione's turn to have her mouth drop, and Harry and Ron blinked rapidly. Fortunately, the other Gryffindors were preoccupied with catching up after their summers to take notice. Still, the effect on Harry, Ron, and Hermione were enough to make the Shinobi jump.

"WHOA," shouted Harry. "Amazing, mate," said Ron, weakly. "HOW DID YOU DO THAT," shouted Hermione, grabbing Naruto by his shirt, "teach me…teach me." Sakura couldn't help a giggle, as she saw Naruto's head bob around from the force of Hermione's shaking. Gaara, Harry, and Ron watched amused, not bothering to stop her.

"O-o-okay," stuttered Naruto, so that Hermione finally released him. The former breathed heavily, and stared at Hermione as if had never seen the likes of her before, while the latter was laughing, congratulating herself on her luck.

Wishing to change the subject, Naruto turned to Harry, "So, what happened to your nose?" "Yes, I've been wondering about that. It appears that you got it within the hour," added Gaara.

The entire mood of the six new friends entirely changed. What had previously been relaxed and joyful was now suspicious and tense and Harry, who had been trying to calm Hermione down, blinked in surprise, while his mouth opened slightly. Sakura immediately focused her eye on Harry, and to her surprise, realized Naruto wasn't just making things up. To her disappointment, it had been he that had noticed it first.

Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione both shared a look, clearly signifying that what Naruto had just mentioned was not supposed to known. Luckily, none of the other Gryffindors could hear, too busy chattering away about the supposed Japanese students.

Harry hesitated, while Gaara, Sakura, and Harry trained their eyes on him. "W-what do you mean, Naruto," asked Harry, trying to force a chuckle.

"I mean," said Naruto, no longer using the happy tone he had before, "I can see that someone stepped on your nose. I believe I have an idea who did it, but I'd like you to confirm it. See, I don't appreciate violence. I like to look out for my friends, especially new ones."

Harry seemed touched for a moment, but Ron quickly intervened. "Oh, nothing happened. Harry just had a bloody nose, that's all." Harry, opened his mouth, but closed it quickly, too embarrassed

Naruto sighed, before touching Harry's nose, with a finger. "I can see the indentation where someone's shoe made contact with your nose. There's blood on your cloak. Add to the fact that you scratch it every few seconds like it is irritating you, Hermione and Ron quickly sharing a look when I mentioned it, and the Slytherin boy over there miming stepping on a nose, I assumed that he did something to hurt you there. Also, there was the fact that I knew that Slytherins seem to have a dislike for Gryffindors.

There was silence for a few moments. Harry gawked at Naruto, while he tried to process this information. Ron, not as smart as the other two, tried to figure out Naruto's deductions, while Hermione stared at Naruto with a mix of something like surprise and joy.

"Well, err," said Harry, "I guess there's no point hiding it. Though how you saw it so quickly is a surprise." "How did you do that," asked Hermione with something like suspicion in her tone, "you managed to deduct all of that in the few minutes we've been sitting here. You must have some strong analytical skills."

Naruto nodded, "We learn from a very early age in class. Part of our magical training is to sniff our potential enemies and dangers. That's the main goal of our training. The magic we learn is for when we encounter the enemies, though with all kinds of magic, you can use it for other means as well."

"Oh," said Hermione, her uneasiness dropping away. Naruto picked up the small figure of himself from the table. "Hence, these figures."

Sakura and Gaara shared a glance. That was some quick thinking and improvisation. 'Wow, Naruto, looks like you learned a lot on your travels. I'm kind of jealous.'

Naruto was about to continue, When Harry motioned for them to be silent. He was looking up towards the staff table, and following his gaze, the others could see that Dumbledore had stood.

"The very best evenings to you," said Dumbledore, with his usual smile and cheerfulness, as he opened his arms wide to embrace the room. Oddly enough, the hall was not as responsive as they usually were, instead muttering to themselves about Dumbledore's right hand, which was blackened and very dead-looking.

Harry recognized it from the evening when he and Dumbledore had gone to retrieve Horace Slughorn. "Oh, what happened to his hand," cried Hermione. Harry shrugged, "I saw it over the summer, but I thought he would have it cured by now."

"Looks bad," replied Naruto. "Maybe you should take a look at it, eh Sakura." He said this last bit in a whisper, and the Kunoichi nodded.

"Oddly, enough," said Gaara to the others, "I didn't see it before, when he came to ask us if we wanted to attend for school this year." "That's right, neither did we," responded Naruto, "and I'm sure I observed him down to the smallest detail." Harry frowned, "Maybe he was hiding it, though I can't understand why."

Meanwhile, whispers continued around the room, but Dumbledore airily waved them off with his other hand, "Ah, nothing to worry about. Instead, a warm welcome to our new students and our guests from Japan, and a welcome back to our old students! Another year full of magical education awaits you all. And Mr. Filch, our caretaker, tells me there is a blanket ban on all joke items brought from the store, 'Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes.'

At this, Harry and Ron began to snicker to each other, while Hermione stared disapprovingly at them. "Oi," said Ron, to Naruto and Gaara, "we have got to show you some of the stuff my brothers made."

Hermione grunted, "Ron! As prefects we need to encourage kids not to use those products. Which means we must confiscate any of the joke items if we discover another student possessing them."

Ron stared back, "Uh, as if. Speak for yourself, mione." Naruto and Harry laughed, while Hermione turned beet red. The prefect turned to Sakura, "Sakura, you agree right. They're being childish."

Sakura froze for a moment, unsure who to support. On one side, Hermione looked at her eerily, while Naruto, Harry, and Ron tried not to chuckle. And Gaara remained neutral, with his arms crossed as usual. "I-I," stammered Sakura, trying to stay smiling. "Yes," asked Hermione, coldly, as if Sakura actions were to be considered insubordination.

Luckily, Dumbledore continued with his speech, which saved Sakura from an answer. "Those who wish to try out for the Quidditch teams this year should apply to their head of house. We are also looking for new commentators this year, and those who are interested should do likewise."

"What's Quidditch," asked Gaara, interested. It sounded like a sport. It certainly had a team. Sports were good. Naruto winked at Sakura, mouthing, 'He loves sports.'

Harry, eager to explain, told them the general rules and positions of Quidditch. "So, there are three chasers, two beaters, a keeper, and a seeker," repeated Gaara. "The chasers try to score, the beaters hit around balls called bludgers, the keepers defend the goals, and the seekers try to catch a swift golden ball called the snitch. And the whole thing is played in mid-air on a broomstick? That's…that sounded cool," said Gaara, who couldn't quite picture a flying broomstick right.

Harry nodded, and realizing Gaara was a bit skeptical added, "Yeah, you got it, but you have to see the real thing in action to really understand. And the broomsticks are really cool. They're hard to fly at first, but it's really fun." "Yeah," added Ron, "Harry here has a 'Firebolt,' which has the reputation of being the fastest broomstick. You should try it out." Harry laughed, "Sure, you can have a go anytime. Better try on a regular broomstick first though."

Ron sighed, "Well, it's a shame this is your only year here. The games are really fun, though I doubt you guys will get on." "Oh," said Dumbledore, "I quite forgot to mention. As this year is the only chance our guests have of seeing Quidditch, we are adding two extra positions to the teams for Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin and Gryffindor. They're will be one extra Beater, and one extra Chaser for each team, which can only be filled by our Japanese guests. As none of them were sorted into Slytherin house, games against them will be played with the normal amount of players."

"Seeing as they are completely new," continued Dumbledore, "they will undergo training session with their team captain until the beginning of the season in November. And good luck, I might add."

At this, a lot of murmuring echoed around the room as former players discussed the new developments.

Harry looked at Gaara, Naruto, and Sakura in amazement. "That's awesome, you three should really try out." Sakura seemed less amused by the idea as Naruto and Gaara who had high fived each other. She turned to look at Hermione. Both girls sighed and muttered, "Boys."

Clearing his throat to once again attract attention, Dumbledore continued. "Anyway, we are pleased to introduce two new teachers to you this year. The first, Professor Slughorn," said Dumbledore, motioning towards a rather plump man with a bald head, "who is a former colleague of mine, has kindly agreed to resume his post as Potions Master."

"Potions," asked Hermione, incredulously. She quickly whirled to face Harry, who was equally stunned, "But Harry, you said he was teaching Defense Against The Dark Arts." Harry, realizing that he wasn't actually quite told this by Dumbledore, winced under Hermione's dominating presence, "I did?"

Hermione ignored him as Dumbledore introduced the second new teacher. At this, Naruto, Gaara, Sakura, and the other shinobi all smiled with glee. They would have fun in this class. "Second, I'd like to welcome Professor Kakashi, a professor from the Japanese school our guests are from. He will kindly take over the Defense Against The Dark Arts Post."

A loud round of applause came from the crowd, save the Slytherins, as the students whistled and cheered. They had all expected Snape to take over the course, but with these new developments many would no longer have to sit in his class. The Gryffindors' applause was the loudest.

"Meanwhile," continued Dumbledore, "Professor Snape shall not be teaching this year, so as to give our kind guest time to teach everyone a little bit about his own school's magic. I expect everyone to treat Professor Kakashi with the same respect you treat the rest of our staff with it. However, Professor Snape, shall teach the first two weeks of Defense Against The Dark Arts to the sixth years, as they're some valuable information to be learned that cannot wait."

At this, Harry faced turned red with anger, "No way!" His outburst attracted attention of many nearby, who all stared at him with wonder.

"How can he let Snape teach DADA," said Harry, "even if it is for two weeks. And why does it have to be the sixth years?" Hermione, although she agreed with him, shrugged, "Well, at least it's only two weeks. Better than the whole term I suppose."

Harry sat back, for the moment content. Meanwhile, Naruto raised the question, "So, what's wrong with this Professor Snape character? True he does look kind of…"

Naruto didn't finish the statement as Harry blurted, "He's the head of Slytherin house and he hates my father, which naturally, makes him have a grudge against me as well. And he generally makes life a living hell for anyone who isn't a Slytherin."

Naruto turned back to discuss this new information with Gaara and Sakura. "This isn't good; I've taken a look at this Snape character. He has this dark aura to him. And look at Harry. He looks at him with such distaste and hatred; you can tell they've been at each other's throats for years."

Sakura nodded, "Don't worry, Naruto, that's why we're here. The only thing I'm worried about is their spells. We don't know much about it. We should try to ask Hermione more about to offensive capabilities of them."

"Also, we should relay this information to the others," said Gaara, motioning to the other houses, "they will need to know." Naruto nodded, "Agreed, Sakura, on your night runs, relay our information to Neji. He's in the same house as Sasuke, and Sasuke can get the information to Kankuro, Lee, and Temari."

Sakura nodded, "You got it," she whispered back.

Dumbledore's face, much to the Shinobi's noticed, suddenly grew serious, "Now, as everyone in this hall knows, Lord Voldemort has returned. To our guests, your new friends will surely enlighten you to this threat. Now, as I was saying, this threat is very real and very dangerous and I strongly urge you all to take precautions. Such as," said Dumbledore, eyeing a particular trio, "going to bed before curfew, obeying any rules that the staff may impose, and most importantly staying together in these dark times. I implore you to speak up if you notice anything strange or unusual, despite the fact that the castle's magical fortifications have increased over the summer."

"I notice he failed to mention the Cloud Ninja," said Gaara quietly to Naruto. Naruto nodded, "Should we tell Harry and his friends?" "Not yet," replied the Kazekage.

Dumbledore's smile soon came back, "But now, the comfort of your beds awaits, and your top priority is to be rested for tomorrow will be your first day back at lessons. As it is still early, I'd like to request all of you to help our new guests get settled and caught up. They will of course get the grasps of things as time goes, but all the help they can get will surely be appreciated. And now, it really is time to get off to your dormitory. Pip pip," said Dumbledore, with a clap.

The usual scraping of benches drowned out the talking as students made their way out. The six new friends gathered near the doorway. Gaara watched his siblings pass, and then turned to the group. "So, where are we off to?" "Just follow me," said Harry, as Hermione and Ron took off, "those two are prefects so they need to round up the first years."

"Sure," replied Sakura, as she and Gaara followed him up. None of them noticed a certain blonde eyeing a particular Slytherin, who was still miming something to do with a noise. The Genin scowled. He wasn't going to let this pass.

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_Lionheart: Well, first chapter in a couple of months. God, I really haven't written in awhile. Well, not too many developments this chapter, but tell me how I did? I'm eagerly awaiting your reviews._

_Thanks so much. I'll try to update much more often._


	4. Chapter 4: First Meeting

_Lionheart: Updates I promised, so updates I have. With the new release of Harry Potter 7 just around the corner, I'm almost entirely focused on this story. My other stories, meanwhile are undergoing mass editing, as I consider them weak and lacking in details, with "Back To The Beginning," the least of my worries. Once, again, thanks for reading, and I do hope you take the time to leave a little response. Although some people believe asking for reviews is dumb and pointless, it gives me, the author the satisfaction that at least my story is being read._

_**PoisonFairy: **__I understand your concern about the Gaara OOCness, but, I did actually, warn everyone in advice that we would be seeing an entirely different Gaara. Unfortunately for purposes of the story, it is no good to make Gaara the usual silent, morbid type he is._

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**Chapter 4**

**First Meeting**

As the group of four left the Great Hall, a loud, booming voice interrupted them, followed by heavy footsteps belonging, obviously, to a rather large man. "OI, 'Arry!"

Recognizing the voice, Harry whirled around, with a bright smile. The three shinobi, despite themselves, jumped when they saw the size of the man, or whatever he was, in front of them.

Naruto's mouth opened slightly, while Gaara started muttering something about hallucinations. Only Sakura managed to keep her cool, though she too, was surprised by the appearance of this man mountain.

"Oh, this is Hagrid," said Harry, looking at his new friends' expressions, "he's the gamekeeper of Hogwarts and he teaches a course called Care of Magical Creatures. He's uhh, a good firend of Ron. Hermione, and me."

Taking a gulp, Naruto shook the giant's hand, only to find his hand ten times smaller than that of the one he was shaking. Gaara went next, with a nod of his head, though not as nervous as Naruto. And Sakura merely waved and whispered a 'Hello.'

"What's this? New friends, eh, 'Arry?'

"Yeah, these are the some of the guests that came from the Japanese school. This is Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sabaku Gaara, though I think he's likes that just call him Gaara." Gaara nodded, to confirm this thought.

Hagrid seemed delighted, "Very nice to meet you all. You may be just the thing to keep Harry out of trouble; yup, he's a troublemaker all righ'." At this, Harry turned away, arms folded, pretending not to know what he was talking about. "Anyway," continued Hagrid, "any friend of Harry's a friend o' mine, I say. I hope you guys get a chance to see my class."

The gamekeeper suddenly brightened as he turned to Harry, who, oddly enough, was starting to turn pale. "Speaking of class, firs' one's right after lunch tommorow. See you then. If you come early, you can say 'ello to Buck…I mean Witherwings. See ya 'Arry."

And leaving Harry as pale as every, Hagrid bounded off in what seemed, greater spirits than before.

"Well," said Naruto, once Hagrid was out of sight, "that guy was big." Sakura nodded, "really big." Gaara crossed his arms, "I'm just glad he's part of the staff." And the shinobi were left to ponder the thought of actually fighting the big guy. They all envisioned a win, but with broken bones and lots of blood.

"What's wrong, Harry," asked Sakura, upon seeing the boy's pale face. Naruto frowned, before he thought he realized what it was.

"You're not taking his class, are you, Harry?" Harry closed his eyes, 'How does he figure me out so easily,' he thought, before he took a breath, and then shook his head.

"Figures," said Naruto, "I wonder what he'll say when he finds out?" At this, Harry seemed to get even more nervous. "Hermione and Ron didn't sign up either."

"Are you good friends," asked Gaara, "maybe he won't mind." Harry grunted, "He was my first friend in my entire life. And, he definitely will mind. I'm one of his three favorite students. He thinks I actually like the class. Though I can't blame him for that. I always did support him, when the other students laughed." And for some reason, the shinobi could easily guess who the other two were.

Harry, the color returning to his cheeks, suddenly looked up, "Oh yeah, the common room, I'll show you the way."

The shinobi shared a gaze. 'First friend,' their looks plainly asked. "He must have had a bad childhood," whispered Naruto. And, this statement made Sakura frown in anger. Anger at herself. Sounded just like how Naruto was treated.

"Mr. Potter!" Harry turned quickly, on the verge of stepping onto the staircase which led to the first floor. From out of the Great Hall, Snape had appeared as tall and menacing as ever, with a look that he clearly showed he didn't want to be doing whatever it was he was supposed to be doing.

Naruto immediately detected a surge of anger rise up through his new friend, though, luckily it seemed controlled. "Yes, professor," said Harry, trying to unclench his mouth.

Snape stared at Harry for a moment, and with a sneer, pointed to the three shinobi. "I have been asked to bring one of our guests to the headmaster. Specifically, you, my dear," said Snape, non-smiling, as he pointed at Sakura.

Sakura stepped from the group, motioned she would be fine, and left with Snape, while Naruto and Gaara followed Harry up a series of staircases. It wasn't until they had gone fairly high up, that Naruto first noticed something strange.

"Umm, Harry," said Naruto, "two things." Harry chuckled, "Oh yeah, the school's staircases like to move and turn about. It's one of the magical things about it, which is why you have to hurry up to get to the common room. And all the paintings in the school are alive and move."

Naruto and Gaara walked by a particularly girlish painting with many women inside who pointed at them and giggled. Neither Shinobi responded, though from their looks, it was obvious they heard and saw it.

At last, the shinobi caught site of a rather large portrait of a pink dressed woman, seated in a throne. It was at this painting that Harry stopped and looked up. The shinobi, not quite expecting the entrance of the common room to be behind a portrait gazed up as well, wondering what exactly they were going to be sleeping in. to their surprise, the portrait spoke.

"Password?" "Acid Pops," said Harry, in a bored manner. The portrait, to Gaara and Naruto's surprise, swung open. Harry smiled at them, before stepping in through a round hole.

Naruto and Gaara shared a look of amazement, before they quickly followed their new friend inside to a roomy looking area, with sofas and tables. The theme, Naruto quickly noticed, was red, and banners with lions hung from the ceilings. A fireplace was situated to their side, and a bulletin to the other. Further along the room, two staircases led to a second floor. It was to these stairs that Harry directed their attention to.

"Those lead up to the dormitories," said Harry, "the left one to the girls. And the right one leads to ours. We're inside the sixth year dormitories. You guys can head on up. I'm just going to say hello to some of my friends, and then I'll join you."

Naruto and Gaara nodded at Harry's back, before they walked up the spiraling staircase to the second floor. They passed by five doors before they came to a sign that read, "Sixth Years and Japanese Guest."

"Looks like we're here," said Naruto, pushing the door open. They found eight beds formed in a circle, each one with its own blanket and curtains. Trunks lay at the foot of each bed, with the name of their owner's carved in bright red letters. It was near the front, that Gaara and Naruto found their own trunks, which contained robes, and other supplies and materials.

"Well," said Naruto, throwing himself onto his bed, "what do you think so far, Gaara? Shouldn't be hard to watch the kid." Gaara shrugged, "They are very loud and noisy." Naruto laughed, "Oh, c'mon, give them a break. They're only teenagers. Let them enjoy themselves a bit."

Taking a more serious manner as he stared up at the ceiling, Naruto noted, "I'd like to find out more about this Dark Lord and his organization thing. Then, I want to beat up some cloud ninja." Gaara let out a snort, though it was clear he couldn't wait for some action either.

"I wonder what they took Sakura for, though," said Gaara. Naruto shrugged, "She can take care of herself. They probably just want some reports or something, and Sakura is the smartest one out of the three of us. I'm betting they grabbed Shikamaru and Temari too. Probably just to run some details over." He didn't know how right he was.

**Dumbledore's Office**

"So, then," said Dumbledore, folding his hands together, as he gazed upon the four shinobi in his room, "I trust our hospitality so far is okay, and that the others are settling in well?"

The three shinobi nodded. Unsatisfied, Dumbledore looked at them briefly, "care to clarify?" He turned to Temari, "how are Lee and Kankuro doing?"

Temari laughed, "I don't know what qualities that hat was looking for, but they are fitting in perfectly. None of the kids have any suspicion of us, and they seem to be having a good time to boot."

Dumbledore smiled, "excellent." He now turned to Shikamaru, "and you? How are Neji and Sasuke doing?"

Shikamaru shrugged, "Everything is fine and Ravenclaw. Like Temari's group, we are fitting in just fine. The other boys are very smart and quiet just like Sasuke and Neji, and to some extent me. We've had…" Here Shikamaru hesitated and he let out a groan, "no problems."

Kakashi sighed, "Shikamaru, what's going on?" Shikamaru let out a louder groan this time, "It's so troublesome!" At this, he was nudged by Temari, "Hey! What did I say about that word?" Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "It's the girls Dumbledore-San! They can't lay off of Sasuke and Neji. And the two have appointed me their bodyguard. I can't imagine what torments they're going through right now."

The room was quiet for a moment, before everyone burst out laughing, excluding Shikamaru, who found his predicament anything but funny. Dumbledore, after a hearty chuckle shrugged, "I'm sure if you just tell them you're not interested, they will lay off. In the meantime, it will be advantageous to have a fan club. They can be mighty useful."

"At a price maybe," mumbled Shikamaru. Ignoring him, Dumbledore turned to Sakura, who was ready for her report, "We are doing excellently, Dumbledore-San. We've already established good relations with the target, Harry Potter and his friends."

Dumbledore appeared thoughtful for a moment, "Good." He was about to turn to Kakashi, when Sakura added, "Sir, we've noticed a small…err…well, rather large tension between Harry and one of your staff, Professor Snape. I don't like putting it this way, but they really do seem to have a strong hatred for each other."

Dumbledore sighed, "Yes, you're right. Back when Severus, Professor Snape to you, was here, Harry's father always played practical jokes on him. Severus was always at the wrong end of something. It just happens that Harry's father was a Gryffindor, and therefore, Severus has a hatred for them, and more specifically Harry."

"Do you think he is any threat to Harry's safety," asked Sakura. Dumbledore stared at Sakura with a gaze that clearly showed that he didn't want to answer the question. Sakura gazed back equally fiercely, until finally, Dumbledore let out a chuckle. "You may feel free to watch him as you please, though, I trust Severus. He may be…ah…somewhat cruel in your eyes to him, but he will not harm Harry."

Sakura nodded, but she wasn't entirely satisfied with the answer.

In the meantime, Dumbledore nodded to Kakashi, who had drawn out his book. The latter closed it and addressed his team. "Sakura, Shikamaru, Temari! Dumbledore-San and I have agreed that the night patrols will be divided amongst you three in teams of two. The first day, Sakura and Shikamaru will take the shift. The second day, Shikamaru and Temari. And the third, Temari and Sakura. We will alternate in this order for the remainder of the school year. A friend of mine and I will patrol the hallways," said Kakashi, though he failed to mention who this friend may be, "while you three, during your shifts, will patrol the grounds."

Kakashi proceeded to lay out a map of the grounds. "From midnight to five, you will patrol the grounds from the Quidditch field here," said Kakashi, pointing to a stadium, to the north and south gates here and here, and finally to this forest, which is dubbed the Forbidden Forest. I've learned that should any enemy appear they will undoubtedly attempt to break in through the forest first, so pay close attention to that area. Should you find any intruders, immediately report this to me and then engage. Should there be large amounts of enemies, send a code red and an ANBU team from Konoha will report on site immediately. We are still low on shinobi in the village, so I hope no large attacks are coming soon. Clear?"

"Sir," shouted the three shinobi, nodding. Kakashi smiled, "They're all yours Dumbledore-San. I need to prepare for my first class," he said before vanishing.

Dumbledore watched amusingly as Kakashi vanished leaving a cloud of smoke behind. "I really should learn how to do that," he muttered, before turning back to the others. "Very good, is there anything else you wish to know?"

Shikamaru shook his head, "It's troublesome, but we will be fine." Temari also answered in the negative, "No problems here." Dumbledore turned to Sakura last, with a knowing smile. "Anything, Miss Haruno?"

"Yes," said Sakura, "about Harry and his friends. From what I've seen of them, I'd have to say you're right. They observe out of the ordinary things well. I was wondering if it be possible we told them our true intentions for being here. It would be better than having them find out on their own."

Dumbledore stroked his long white beard, and appeared thoughtful. He then motioned to Shikamaru and Temari to leave. "I'd like to speak to Miss Haruno along for a moment," said Dumbledore, "you two may return to your respective common rooms."

Shikamaru and Temari both nodded, "Of course, sir," they said, bowing as they exited.

"Sit down," said Dumbledore, once the other two were gone. Sakura did so, just as Dumbledore stood. The wizard paced back and forth around the room for a few moments, seemingly pondering her question. It seemed he had come to a decision, when, with the air of having finalized something, he stopped.

"No, Miss Haruno. I would prefer you to keep your secret just a little longer, and I'll tell you why. It is of the utmost…and let me stress this to you…utmost importance that this 'secret' let's say NOT leave the room."

Sakura nodded, "My lips are sealed," she said, reassuringly.

Dumbledore eyed her momentarily, "Very well. I trust you and your team immensely. But, even in Hogwarts, there are weaknesses. And I have suspected a few spies from the enemy within the castle itself. NO," shouted Dumbledore, as Sakura immediately went for her microphone, "don't do anything! I already have the situation covered!"

Sakura eyed Dumbledore closely, "Dumbledore-San, I don't think you understand the possible consequences of a spy inside the castle. We would not be able to protect our target to our fullest capabilities if the enemy knew what it was up against. A Shinobi's best advantage is to be discreet, and attack with surprise. We could easily track the spies and eliminate them."

Dumbledore's face darkened, "I understand that. But, for the sake of my plans, you must listen to me. DO NOT pursue these spies."

Sakura frowned, "What are your plans anyway. And we hardly know anything about this organization. And should they attack the school, why do you not tell the students?"

Dumbledore sighed, "My plans, I cannot tell you. As for this organization, it is made up of evil wizards led by the greatest evil wizard of our time. I suspect he is planning an…ahh…attack on the school. Now, should this attack get wind to the students, why, there would be a mass panic. Parents would flood in and remove their children. In all the chaos, the enemy would strike in full force while we were preoccupied and disorderly. As long as nobody has anything to fear, we can protect them."

Sakura raised an eyebrow, "But should an attack come, wouldn't it come in full force anyway. And how will the students be prepared for it? We would have to fight a battle with a double objective: Protect the school and defeat the enemies. And if cloud ninja join this mysterious organization, then we may be overrun. Remember, there are only ten of us inside the school. We can't protect everyone. And as you said, as soon as there got wind of an attack, the school will go into mass chaos. Wouldn't that happen should a major force invade the school? I've seen the children. None of them are warriors. Organizations with evil intentions usually kill to get their way."

Dumbledore shook his head, "That would be true, but do you honestly think that, knowing the enemies plans, I have not weaved some traps of my own? You are mistaken on the assumed ten guards. My staff and members of my own organization are already on the grounds, bringing the number of 'guards' let's say, up to about twenty-five. And second, if my plans go well I don't expect the enemy to send in a large force and certainly not in a situation where the student population would be aware of it. As for your Cloud Shinobi, I was hoping ten shinobi of the greatest renown in the shinobi world would suffice."

"So we're here solely for the purpose of countering the Cloud Shinobi? And, I'd like to add that even though we do consider ourselves amongst the best, the cloud ninja or no pushovers. If they send in their full force, there is not much we can do stop them, unless we counter with a full force of Konoha Ninja."

Dumbledore shook his head, "Firstly, no! You are here solely for the protection of my school, which includes stopping Cloud Shinobi and helping my staff against this organization, which I expect to attack in a very small group, if more than three at all. Still, I could be wrong. Second, should a full cloud shinobi force attack the castle, I will hire your entire village to defend it, as that would ruin my plans."

Sakura tried not to laugh, "Dumbledore-San, if you could hire the whole village that would surely be a miracle. I'm not sure if you heard, but right now, we are low on shinobi. We can't spare the whole village. Who would protect it?"

Dumbledore smiled, "What if we were to move the whole village nearby?" Sakura's mouth dropped, "W-what?!" With a hearty chuckle, Dumbledore responded, "Only temporary, but I am willing to pay any amount to help with this situation. Can you please contact your Hokage and ask if she is willing to move the village here?"

Thinking the whole thing was absurd, Sakura asked, "What about the shinobi currently on missions?" Dumbledore waved her off, "Oh we need not do it right away. I may be old, but I am not without resources."

And saying this, Dumbledore pulled out a scroll that unmistakenly belonged to the Cloud shinobi village. I have a few spies of my own in the cloud village, and they sent me this. A few cloud spies have left the village and are nearby. They should be no problem to you. As for a large force, one is being prepared, but it will take months to be ready, and should it come, it will take another few months to get here in full force. We need not move the village until much later."

Still thinking the idea was absurd, Sakura shrugged it off, "I'll tell Shikamaru tomorrow, and then he will relay the message to the Hokage. As soon as we get a response, I'll relay it to you."

"Excellent," replied Dumbledore, "anything else you are interested in? "Why do you think that this organization is going to attack in a small group," asked Sakura, suspicious. Dumbledore shrugged, "Sorry, but that would be telling you my plans." Sakura groaned, "Fine, keep your secrets. I'm merely suggesting we could help."

"Ah, there you are wrong," said Dumbledore, "the thing I wish to do involves me and Harry and no other. You're free to go." Dumbledore said this with a final tone that suggested to Sakura she should leave. The Kunoichi stood, bowed and quickly exited.

As Sakura was leaving, Shikamaru suddenly burst through the door. His eyes were wide and he had clearly just heard some terrible news. "Sakura, thank god you're here. We've got a big problem!"

At this, Kakashi, Sasuke, Gaara, and Naruto appeared outside the door. Dumbledore quickly made some seats and urged them to tell him what had happened.

"The thing is this," said Shikamaru, "Cloud has just declared war on Konoha. They allied themselves with four other shinobi nations: Mist, Grass, Stone, and the remainder of sound. Sand, Leaf, and Waterfall have allied together, and all missions have been cancelled, but there is no way we are going to be getting any help from over there. Sand has requested Gaara, as he is the Kazekage, back, but instead he is sending Kankuro. We're going to have to make do with one less guard, and you'll have to help us come up with an excuse for him, as he is already on the way."

"Is there anything we can do to help," asked Dumbledore, genuinely concerned. If Cloud shinobi are at war, perhaps I should release some of you. There doesn't seem to be a threat of an invasion anymore."

"No good," replied Sasuke. "Yes," said Kakashi, "we have just learned a team seven cloud shinobi are on their way here. Cloud has allied themselves with your Lord Voldemort, it seems. Our orders are to remain here and defend the castle. As all missions are cancelled, we have a large standing force of shinobi in our village. You need not worry. Should we have an early victory, Tsunade-Sama has ordered four teams to immediately come, and we will lead our own attack against this organization. I doubt that will happen though."

Dumbledore sat back, worry in his eyes, "I see. Very well. An excuse for your sibling Kazekage-Same, will be no problem. We'll keep our original plan for the shifts. Miss Haruno, Miss Sabaku, and Mister Nara will patrol the ground, while the rest will defend the common room."

"Gotcha," said Naruto, glancing at something. The blonde's eyes widened suddenly, and he nudged Gaara. "I apologize, but we must go," said Gaara, as the two vanished.

"I should be heading back as well. Can't leave Neji by himself," said Sasuke with the ghost of a smile, before vanishing.

Shikamaru nodded too, before vanishing as well.

"Well, Sakura, let our client rest," said Kakashi, "we'll finish our discussion tomorrow night. You have the first shift. I doubt the Cloud ANBU will attack so quickly, but we can't take anything for granted. Undoubtedly they will attack later in the year, when everyone is settled in."

"Is that so," asked Dumbledore, "then this may very well go along with my plans." Kakashi was about to ask, "What plans," when Sakura pushed him out grudgingly, "Don't ask."

**Gryffindor Common Room**

Harry opened the door to sixth year common room, seconds after Naruto and Gaara teleported back in. To him however, they appeared to have been studying up on spells and other information.

"Sorry I took so long," said Harry, "so, need any help. I'm not an expert, but I know a bit about defense against the dark spells, some charms, and some other interesting things."

Gaara and Naruto pulled out wands, grinning, before they turned to Harry. Both shouted, "Petrificus Totalus," and watched with amusement as Harry's arms snapped to his side, his legs came together, and he fell forward like a board.

"Good one," muttered Harry, in his awkward position. Gaara and Naruto gave each other a high five. Hey, who's to say magic wasn't fun. You could never do this with jutsu.

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_Lionheart: So, how's my second chapter update? It seems so easy to write for some reason, though I can't seem to tell how good it is. Please, tell me what you think._

_Hints: There were some major things revealing in this chapter, but no serious developments are going to take place for awhile. Also, we won't see much of the other shinobi outside of Gryffindor house as much as Gaara, Naruto, and Sakura. It's too many people to keep track of._


	5. Chapter 5: Professor Snape

_Lionheart: Not much to add, but, next chapter. Please read my ending comments and vote on poll below._

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**Chapter 5**

**Professor Snape!**

The next morning was, to Naruto's joy, a bright and sunny one. The days would only start getting shorter as the season continued into late fall, so he would enjoy his mornings as much as possible now.

Careful not to disturb the others, Naruto climbed out of bed, hastily threw on some clothes, and then proceeded out the door and down the steps into the common room. He was, somewhat surprised to see Sakura sitting on a bench. The Kunoichi was deep in thought, with one of Dumbledore's books open on the table.

She didn't bother to look up as Naruto took a seat next to her.

"You're up early," she said, after a moment of silence. Naruto looked at her oddly, "Umm, Sakura, you were up before me." "I had an excuse," she argued, with a hint of irritation in her voice, "I had the first nighttime shift with Shikamaru. I didn't get the slightest bit of sleep."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "So what? One day without sleep? C'mon, Sakura, remember that mission where we went a whole week and a half without sleep. And we still managed to kill those A-rank assassins."

Sakura glared at him, "So what? Doesn't mean I enjoyed it. And I'll have you know I spent the next two days back in bed." Naruto sighed, "Maybe you just weren't cut out for this."

This, of course earned him a smack in the face. "Humph," grunted Naruto, as he slid away, rubbing his cheek, even though it barely hurt, "As grumpy as ever, Sakura."

Sakura raised her wand, which had been lying on the desk nearby. "I spent the whole morning studying some cool little things called hexes and jinxes. I've tried some of them on myself. They're not pleasant. Care to try one, Naruto?"

She had expected the blonde to beg for mercy. Instead, to her surprise, and later irritation, he pulled out his own wand, "Oh, you should see what I did to Harry and Gaara yesterday. You know, I didn't think much of magic when we first came, but Harry showed us tons of offensive capabilities of them. A lot of them are downright dangerous. Of course, matched with my speed and quick-thinking, they were too slow for me."

Sakura closed her book, "Well, Mister I'm-So-Good, perhaps you'd like to try me?"

Naruto eyes seemed to un-focus for a moment, as if he was suddenly struck dumb. "What," asked Sakura, narrowing her eyes, "scared? It won't be that bad, I promise."

"O-okay," said Naruto, "Are you sure? You aren't joking," he stuttered as if he couldn't quite believe what was happening.

Sakura lowered her wand, "Yeah, go ahead. Show me what you got."

This seemed to convince Naruto, so with a shrug, he pulled off his shirt. Well, almost. As he was doing it slowly, Sakura shrieked, with of course stopped him. Naruto looked up, with his shirt halfway off.

"You idiot," shouted Sakura, looking like she had just seen something terrible and horrifying, "put it back on. What were you thinking?"

Confused, Naruto obeyed. "But, Sakura, you asked me to try you out. I asked if you were sure, and you said, '"show me what you got.'" Sakura closed her mouth, and she slowly straightened herself so that she was at full height. She blinked a few times, making sure she had heard exactly what Naruto said.

Meanwhile the blonde didn't wait for a reaction. His joke seemed to have just the effect he wanted it to have on her. He would have gotten away, had the Kunoichi not yelled, "Stupefy!"

A blast of red light came, and though Naruto dodged most of it, a small part of it grazed his left arm, sending his spiraling onto the ground in a heap. Still able to move, however, Naruto quickly jumped up and shouted, "Protego," as Sakura's Jelly Legs Jinx."

Sakura ducked as her own jinx flew right back at her, but she improvised quickly, and as she fell, she muttered, "Petrificus Totalus."

Too slow, the body-bind spell straightened him like a board, and down Naruto went, face first into the floor.

Grinning madly, Sakura checked behind her to see if any damage had been done. The jinx seemed to have flown out the window, though this did not immediately register insider her mind. She seemed to have certain plans for a certain blonde. She certainly grinned in a way, only a scheming mind would.

**The Great Hall**

"I love being a sixth year," said Ron, gleefully, "And we're going to be getting free time this year. Whole periods where we can sit up here and relax," said Ron, dreamily. "That's for study period, we're going to need it," snapped Hermione, as if she couldn't quite believe he had said that. Harry shrugged, "sounds good to me."

"Anyway, so," said Harry, as he raised a piece of sausage to his mouth, "where's Naruto at? He wasn't in bed when we woke up." "That's righ'," agreed Ron, "and he wasn't in the common room either. We thought you and him just went out, because you weren't there either."

Sakura shrugged, "though everyone could tell she was trying not to laugh." "Sakura," asked Gaara, questioningly.

"She's really good," said Hermione, suddenly. Everyone, with the exception of Sakura looked up. The latter knew she had been watched the whole morning. But it didn't stop her from having her fun.

"Well, first they got into a fight," said Hermione, once she had everyone's attentions, "and I really can't blame her. That Naruto is as perverted as they get. He took his shirt right in front of her, though of course she didn't let him.

Then they started shooting spells off each other. Naruto did a really good Shield Charm, Harry, to block Sakura's Jelly Legs Jinx, but he wasn't quick enough to block the Body-Bind Curse that came his way, and down he went."

Harry, Gaara, and Ron laughed, feeling no sympathy for their new friend. All of them had gotten hit by the same spell by him. He was just that fast. Appeared he finally met his match.

"But that wasn't the best part," said Hermione, pointing a fork, "next she used the Levitating Charm, and sent Naruto out the window, and held him there for like ten minutes while she yelled at him. Of course he was still under the body bind so he couldn't do anything, but you should have seen his eyes. They did all the moving for him."

"Blimey, that must have been scary," said Ron, though he seemed amused by the idea. Sakura grunted, "Serves him right. Afterwards, I threw him in a closet and locked it. Maybe that will teach him try and seduce me. Then, I couldn't stand just sitting around anymore, so I left to come down here to chat with some of the other Japanese Guests."

Harry and Ron shared a glance. The two of them remember the Yule Ball their fourth year. Not only was it a disaster, but they had learned things about women they never wanted to know.

It was at this moment that Naruto, though he was quite irritated, calmly sat down beside them. Glaring at Sakura, and slamming a knife and fork onto the table, he angrily muttered, "What's for breakfast?"

Sakura sneered at him, "Well, it's certainly not me…you damn pervert. We never should have let you off with Jiriaya-Sensei." "Temper temper," said Naruto, coldly, thinking of Tsunade, "I wonder what 'hag' you got that from."

Sakura nearly stood up, but luckily, Gaara, who sat right next to her, held her down.

And to the annoyance of the others, Naruto and Sakura's anger with each other would last all through breakfast, with an occasional threat.

Trying to change the subject, Harry turned to Hermione and Ron and told him of his encounter yesterday with Hagrid. Gaara, having nothing better to do, listened in. Not much to his surprise, neither Ron nor Hermione were going to take N.E.W.T Care of Magical Creatures.

"But, seriously," said Hermione, "he can't expect us to continue with it. When have any of…err…shown any….enthusiasm for it?" "Well, that's it innit? We were the ones who made the most effort in his classes because we like Hagrid. But now he thinks we like the class. And…" Ron glanced around, "D'you reckon "anyone's" going on to N.E.W.T?" Nobody answered him, and the trio took particular care to avoid Hagrid's cheery eye.

Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall had arrived at their seats. She noticed Sakura and Naruto immediately, gazing at each other like two prized fighters, looking for an opening. She didn't bother to ask what was going on.

Instead, she handed a sheet to Hermione, "Miss Granger, I'm pleased to let you know that you are cleared for all your classes. Why don't you take Miss Haruno with you? We have already arranged for her books. You'll be keeping an eye on her for us."

Hermione nodded, with a look of pure glee. At the mention of her name, Sakura looked up, to find a suitcase lying at her feet. "Your books for the courses you will be taking with Miss Granger," answered Professor McGonagall."

"C'mon, let's go. We have a first period of Runes," said Hermione, running off, with Sakura at her heels.

McGonagall turned to Harry and Ron next. "Let's see…Potter…Weasley. Cleared for Charms, Herbology, Defense Against The Dark Arts, Transfiguration…all fine. I must say I was impressed with both of your Transfiguration Marks, very pleased. But, now, Potter, I thought it was your ambition to become an Auror."

Harry nodded, "Err, but you told me I would need to get an 'Outstanding' in my O.W.L, Professor." McGonagall nodded, "ah, yes, but that was with Professor Snape teaching. Professor Slughorn is perfectly willing to accept an 'Exceeds Expectations.' Do you wish to proceed with potions?"

Harry blinked a few times, not quite believing his luck. "I'll take it," said Ron, with his mouth hanging slightly. Harry glanced at his best friend, "I guess I will too. But I don't have any supplies or books."

McGonagall waved it off, "Not a problem. Professor Slughorn, I'm sure, will lend you some." She nodded to them and tapped their schedule sheets for the new changes, "Very well, Mr. Potter…Mr. Weasley. Here are your schedules. But, one moment," she said, pulling up two suitcases, identical to the one Sakura got.

"The headmaster would like Mister Uzumaki and Mister Gaara to accompany you to your classes and share your schedules. Is that okay with you?"

Harry nodded, "Yeah, fine, we'll show them around." Professor McGonagall gazed at them for a moment, before turning to Gaara and Naruto. "Don't fall into their little hole of trouble-making," she whispered.

She turned to leave, before turning to Harry again, "by the way, Harry, twenty hopefuls have already put down their names for the Quidditch team. I can pass the list to you and you can fix up trials at your leisure. Make sure you spend a lot of time with these two," she said, pointing to Naruto and Gaara, "as the other teams will be doing so too," she said, before leaving off for Neville Longbottom, one of Harry's friends Gaara and Naruto had met earlier.

"Excellent," said Ron, peering at his schedule, and showing it to the others, "we have a free period now, and another after break, and another one after lunch….YES!"

"Wow, that's awesome. I never like class much anyway," said Naruto, with a laugh. "You guys take much more classes than we do, even with the breaks," noted Gaara. The ninja academy was like four or five hours each day. Looking at the schedules, they already had five. Hermione and Sakura's schedules were probably at six to seven."

"Pity you guys came here," said Ron, "I wouldn't mind going to your school." Naruto and Gaara shared a glance of amusement. "Well," said Harry, standing, "let's go back to the common room. We still have awhile, about an hour, before we need to go to Defense Against The Dark Arts."

"Yeah, you can show us some more like offensive type spells," said Naruto. That Body-Bind one is fun, but it's getting old." Harry laughed, "Fine, fine, just promise you'll find other targets to blast." "I'll say," muttered Ron, who had been quickest of Gaara, Harry, and himself, to get put under the body-bind spell.

When the foursome had returned to the common room, it was remarkably empty, save for an occasional seventh year student. It just happened that one of these Harry knew. Her name, Katie Bell. The said girl noticed Harry as he walked in and smiled, pointing at a small badge on Harry's robes, "I thought you'd get that, well done."

Harry fingered the Quidditch Captain's Badge on his robes, "Thanks," he responded. "Oh yeah, don't forget to tell me when you call trails!" Harry snorted, "Don't be stupid. I've watched you play for five years. You don't need to try out."

Katie shook a finger at him warningly, "Now, you mustn't start off like that. For all you know there's someone better than me out there. That's how good teams are ruined. Captains always kept playing the old faces or letting in friends."

While Harry winced under her lecture and promised to give fair trials, Ron's face suddenly turned a sick shade of green.

"And, are you two going to try out for the new guest spots," asked Katie, to Gaara and Naruto. The two shinobi nodded eagerly, "We can't wait to try these flying broomsticks," said Gaara.

Katie laughed, "Yes, don't we all. Anyway, be careful. Don't fall off. It's a long way down," she called out, before disappearing the way they came in.

To Naruto's displeasure, the hour of break they had seemed remarkably short, and reluctantly he stopped his magic practice. So far, he and Gaara has mastered a variety of hexes and jinxes, the shield charm, and a some other useful spells, such as Lumos, the light spell, and Wingardium Leviosa, the levitating spell.

In return, Naruto and Gaara showed Harry and Ron how to manipulate their own chakra, though they called it 'magic energy.' So far, the two had gotten pretty far, though they still had a long way before they had enough control over their chakra to even attempt a jutsu.

"Well," said Harry falling onto his bed, after trying to walk up the wall, "that was fun. I got pretty far," he said, looking at the faint mark, which showed the most he could walk. Ron, equally tired, was considerably less-progressed than Harry, and bruises on his head showed it.

"Time to go," said Gaara, disappointedly, staring at a clock. It was amusing to see non-Shinobi try to manipulate their own chakra, especially a non-shinobi that was already past the ideal age to start learning, seven.

"So, Defense Against the Dark Arts is it," asked Naruto, as he followed his new friends out the portrait and into the seventh floor corridor. "Yeah," replied Harry, "basically it's a course that teaches us how to defend ourselves against creatures or dark wizards. You learn a whole variety of spells. It's really cool."

"But Snape is teaching it to us the first few weeks," muttered Ron, "he makes even fun things hell." Harry's face darkened, "Yeah, I'm really glad we'll only have to endure him for the start of term. I can't imagine what it would be like the whole year."

"This guy sounds bad," said Gaara, as he rounded a corner towards the stairs. "Unbelievable so," replied Harry, "and he hates us, to make matters worse."

Naruto shared a glance with Gaara. Both nodded to each other. They would observe this Snape very closely.

Four flights down, the foursome found their way to their classroom, to find a whole crowd of students already gathered. The doors appeared locked. Nearby, they discovered that Sakura and Hermione were waiting for them. Both carried a large stack of books, and neither of them looked content.

"Ah, Naruto, over here," called out Sakura, waving them over. Naruto quickly approached, only to suddenly find a large stack of books in his arms. The blonde quickly turned to Sakura, who was smiling maliciously, and holding a victory sign up."

Naruto scowled, though he contented himself with holding the books. 'Nothing else I can,' the Genin thought, bitterly.

"Blimey, ain't that a lot of books," said Ron, trying to count the exact number of books in Hermione's arms.

"I'll say," complained Sakura, angrily, "We're supposed to read these by Wednesday. And we need to do a fifteen inch essay." Pouting as well, Hermione muttered something about 'too much homework.' "Shame," said Ron, trying to fake a yawn.

"Hn, I bet Snape will give us loads," responded Hermione. Ron shrugged, "Well, that's one assignment compared to your three... four... twenty." Sakura and Hermione both glared at him.

"Actually, I hope he doesn't give a lot of homework," admitted Gaara, "I'm not a big fan."

Unfortunately, no one had time to respond to this, as the doors suddenly swung open.

Like an overgrown bat, Snape swept down the corridor, his robes flying wildly behind him, stopping just outside the door. With his wand he motioned inside the room, "Inside. Now," he commanded.

The six friends took seats near the front, taking up the first two rows. To Harry's displeasure, he noticed the room appeared gloomier than usual. The curtains were drawn over the windows and the room was dark save for a few candles.

'Well, this guy is kind of creepy,' thought Naruto, as he looked around. Hermione and Sakura made to take out their books immediately upon settling in, but Snape quickly stopped them, "Miss Granger! Miss Haruno! I did not tell anyone to take out their books."

Both females looked at each other. Hermione face showed one of apology, while Sakura's face was one that clearly said, 'This guy's a jerk.'

Not noticing this exchange of looks, Snape took his place behind his desk, and gazed eerily at his class, who, despite themselves, froze. "I would like to speak to you, and I want your fullest attention."

Without hesitation, all of the students looked up with attention. Not wanting to be singled out, Gaara, Sakura, and Naruto did the same. To the Shinobi's fears however, Snape's cold black eyes seemed to rest on them for a moment.

"Ah, I almost forgot. A most warm welcome to our guests," said Snape, though it was obvious through his posture and eyes that he wasn't at all enthusiastic about their presence. The rest of the class however, clapped loudly.

The applause was cut short however, as Snape waved his hand. Immediately, the whole class stopped clapping, and Snape continued with his speech, "You have had five teachers in this subject so far. Naturally, each of them has had their own methods and priorities. It is a wonder to me so many of you managed to pass your O.W.L, and I shall be even more surprised if half as many of you keep up with the N.E.W.T work, which is much much more advanced."

Snape now began pacing around the room, flicking his wand toward the walls. Pictures displaying the macabre appeared around the room. "Ugh, disgusting," whispered Sakura to Naruto. Naruto nodded, "Pretty grotesque."

Unfortunately the whispering was caught by Snape. Without even turning the former Potions Master deducted five points from Gryffindor. "I do not tolerate talking, even from foreign exchange students," said Snape, "next time it will be fifty points."

Naruto growled in response, luckily inaudible to Snape, while Sakura and Gaara tried to calm the blonde down. This did not help, as Snape immediately deducted another five points. "Mr. Uzumaki" he said turning, "try not to be so disturbing to the class," he said with a sneer. Naruto just had about enough, and it was only with great self control did he manage to stay seated, though his eyes burned with rage.

Apparently disappointed that there were no further outbursts, Snape turned back to the class. "The dark arts," he started, "are many, varied, ever-changing, and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster. Each time a neck is severed sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than the last. You are fighting that which is mutating, unfixed, ever-transforming. Indestructible even. Therefore, your own defenses must be as flexible and inventive as the arts you seek to undo."

Snape pointed to a few of the paintings that had appeared around the room. "These…are just an example of what happens when a person suffers…"

Snape pointed to a paiting with a women clearly shrieking in agony and clutching her head as if it were on fire. "The Cruciatus Curse. Also known as the Torturing Spell," he added, looking towards the Shinobi, who noticed an evil intent behind his words.

"Or," he continued, pointing towards a painting with a man who was huddled against a wall blank-eyed and motionless, "The Dementor's Kiss."

"Also," said Snape pointing to a picture that depicted a bloody mass on the ground, "someone who suffers an inferi attack."

All through the lecture, people had been whispering and pointing. This last one, however, Naruto noticed, got the attention of more people and in bigger ways. Curious, Naruto turned to Sakura and Hermione, "What are Inferi?"

Hermione didn't answer for a moment, trying to take in the gruesomeness of the pictures. Finally she tore her sight away from it and muttered, "Inferi are basically creatures that are dead, but have been reanimated. I don't know if you're familiar with the term, but zombies suit them nicely. Very aggressive and dangerous zombies," she added.

At this, Naruto shared a look with Sakura and Gaara. "Inferius, god, what will they come up with next?" Gaara shook his head, "They seem deadly, but I'm wondering what a dementor is. From the looks of the painting it looks like the man is soulless."

"Correct," said Snape, who had overheard him, "Dementor's Kiss is their ability to suck a living man's soul out of his body. Quite terrible," added Snape, gazing at them in a way that sent shivers up their spines.

"Anyway, I believe you are complete novices in the use of nonverbal spells. What is the advantage of nonverbal spells, or, spells cast without shouting an incantation?"

As expected, Hermione's hand shot up into the air. Not so much expected however, was the fact that the three shinobi had been a touch slower than she was. Harry and Ron shared a glance. Never before had they seen this.

Apparently, Snape was surprised as well, for he stared at the four hands in the air for a full twenty seconds. Then, with a sneer, he pointed to Naruto. "Mr. Uzumaki." Naruto cleared his throat, "With a nonverbal spell, the target does not know what spell he is facing, which gives the caster an advantage, if it only be a split-second."

It was a classic moment. Not only were there more hands than usual in the air, but they belonged to the Japanese Guests, who were unfamiliar with their ways and classes. Not only that, but Naruto's answer was, apparently good enough, that even Snape could find no fault with it.

"Yes," said Snape, slowly, now, gazing at Naruto as if he were some kind of threat, "those who progress to using magic without shouting gain the advantage of surprise. The question is the concentration and mind power, which some…" Here snape turned to Harry, "…lack." The two maintained eye contact for a moment, with Harry glaring, before Snape turned away.

"You will now divide into pairs. One person shall attempt to jinx the other without shouting the incantations, while the other shall attempt to repel the jinx in equal silence. You may begin."

Hermione chose Sakura to be her partner, and immediately they began to attempt the use of nonverbal spells. Naruto and Gaara partnered, and Harry partnered with Ron.

Around the room, others partnered up. Although Snape was unaware, the majority of the class knew how to cast a jinx and a shield charm. Harry had taught them the last year. And so, a reasonable amount of cheating ensued, with partners attempting to whisper the incantation. Anybody caught lost five house points, and luckily, this prevented any of the six friends from trying.

It was decided Sakura, Naruto, and Ron would attempt to jinx their respective partners. In Sakura's case, the Kunoichi's adaptive ability, her insane mastery of her own chakra, and her ability to stay focus and concentrate allowed her to get her first jinx, a jelly legs one, off, without an incantation. To her surprise however, Hermione had managed to repel it without an incantation as well. With a glance, both realized the challenge they had put upon themselves, and throughout the rest of class, they sent jinx after jinx at each other. In any normal class it would have earned them tons of house points. Snape, with a scowl, purposefully ignored it.

Instead, Snape focused his attentions on Naruto and Gaara and Harry and Ron, who were not having as much success as their female friends. Fortunately for Naruto, who had the Kyuubi sealed inside of him, he only had to simply wave the wand. Kyuubi would shout the incantation and send the necessary chakra out to cast it. Gaara, on the other hand, had neither a demon spirit inside him nor the necessary concentration to repel the jinx and was repeatedly hit. Out of friendship, Naruto did not laugh each time Gaara's legs began tap-dancing, though, as Kyuubi put it, it was hilarious.

On Harry and Ron's side, the former was eagerly awaiting a spell he doubted would come, while the latter was sweating in frustration, and waving his wand wildly.

Disgusted, Snape, pushed Gaara and Ron aside, and swiftly turned upon Naruto and Harry, shooting off jinxes. Naruto easily deflected the one shot to him, but Harry, startled, shouted "Protego," and his resulting spell was so strong, Snape was thrown off-balance."

The class had immediately stopped to watch. In truth, they were all shocked, but it did not prevent them from chuckling slightly. Meanwhile, the three shinobi were more alarmed by Snape's serious attitude, and the fury in his eyes. All three immediately stopped what they were doing and resolved to, should it come to, stop Snape by force."

"Potter, do you remember me saying we were doing 'nonverbal' spells."

"Yes," said Harry, stiffly.

"Yes, sir," corrected Snape.

It was here that Harry worsened the situation into an impossible one. "There's no need to call me sir, professor." He wasn't sure what made him say it, but it was done. Harry gulped as he awaited punishment, while the castle watched, with their mouths agape. Only Ron seemed to be amused.

'Damn, Harry, just keep your mouth shut, next time,' thought Naruto, who was already forming hand seals behind his back for a complicated fire jutsu. Luckily, nothing was needed, as, Snape shrugged it off, "Don't do it again, Potter."

Seconds before Snape was about to burst out in rage, Sakura secretly attached a string to the professor, making him into a temporary puppet. She altered his memory and then said, "Don't do it again, Potter, through Snape. When she released him, to her relief, Snape had no recollection of the incident, and nobody seemed to have noticed her, save Gaara, who was more relieved than angry at her recklessness.

Meanwhile, Snape, who had suddenly blinked, look up. "Get back to work," he demanded. No one needed a second shouting.

At the end of class, much later, Harry walked with his hands on his head, with a big grin. "I can't believe I got away with that." "You were really lucky," said Hermione, who was still suspicious about the whole thing, "but what made you say it?"

"It was reckless," said Gaara, "you could have put yourself in a lot of trouble." Harry stopped angrily, "Yeah? Well, I'm tired of him treating me like some guinea pig. I had enough of that last year with Occlumency. I don't know why Dumbledore even put him there to teach us for two weeks. All the talk about the dark arts, like it's a wonderful thing."

"Well, actually," said Hermione, forgetting about the day's events for a moment, "I thought he sounded a bit like you." Harry looked at her incredulously, "Me? What?" Hermione looked nervous, "Well, you are always saying it's not about memorizing spells. It's about being brave and quick thinking." And Harry, who was surprised Hermione found his advice worth memorizing, did not argue.

"And to Sakura's relief," Hermione did not press the point on Snape's unusual behavior.

* * *

_Lionheart: Ah, longest chapter yet. I intended to also include the Potions class in this chapter, but it just wouldn't fit. How unfortunate. It means one extra chapter to the total._

_Anyways, enjoy._

_Anhow, I would add Akatsuki into this, but it would be kind of pointless right now. First, by the time they even consider retrieving Sasuke in the manga: Hidan, Kakuzu, Sasori, and Deidara are pretty much out (Deidara is currently fighting Sasuke, though things are looking bad for him. there would be no way to retrieve Sasuke without eliminating Itachi, which means they would need to eliminate Kisame as well. Orochimaru is inside Kabuto, and Kabuto is his own team, though we can use him. And two members of Akatsuki are unnamed, so I won't add them in here just yet. Maybe in due time._

Poll: Should I include Akatsuki? If so, the whole Akatsuki + Orochimaru and Kabuto, or just the remaining members.


	6. Chapter 6: The Art Of Potions

_Lionheart: WOW, I didn't think so many people wanted to see Akatsuki in here. I apologize for the delay in uploading, but I needed some time to think how I would incorporate Akatsuki into the picture. I've decided upon this. They WILL NOT make a special appearance very late into the story. As grumpywinter puts it, we can't have the pedophile Orochimaru in this story, so it'll just be Kabuto, with Orochimaru inside of him._

_The cast of Akatsuki so far, that I shall put in, are Deidara, Itachi, Kisame, Zetsu, Hidan, Kakuzu, Tobi, Sasori, and Kabuto. The unnamed members may come in as well, but without knowledge of who they are, I probably won't._

**Gaara-Ino4ever**: No, the characters that are inside the story will be all the ones going to Hogwarts. There may be some "special" guest appearances however, but I don't want to ruin this little detail for the rest of the readers.

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**Chapter 6**

**The Art Of Potions**

The six friends continued down the corridor, turning corners, and going down steps, chatting to themselves. As they approached the corridor that led down to the dungeons, a loud and very young voice interrupted them.

"Harry! Oh! Harry. Hey, Harry."

Harry turned slowly, seeing a former player from the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Jack Sloper. "Heya, Harry, I was told to give this to you. And say, when are you holding tryouts?"

"Not sure," replied Harry, as he took the envelope, although he doubted Jack would make it back onto the team. "Well," said Jack, "listen, I was hoping…"

The rest of his words, Harry drowned out, for he had made out the thin writing on the envelope. "It's from Dumbledore," he whispered. And to Ron and Hermione, he added, "It's about my private lessons, I hope."

Hurrying away from Sloper, the six friends went down the steps and to a secluded corner, where Harry opened the envelope. Naturally, he explained his private lessons with Dumbledore to Naruto, Sakura, and Gaara, who all wondered what he would learn.

"Wicked hexes, curses, and jinxes, I'm betting," said Ron. "Nah, probably he wants to show Harry some really advanced defensive spells. I mean he will need it." "Hrm," said Sakura, speculating, "I'm going with Hermione's idea, defense is better than offense." "Offense spells too, maybe. Can't forget to give someone the old one two," said Naruto, punching the air.

The others shared a glance that clearly labeled Naruto as weird. "Anyway," said Gaara, "I'm interested in this Potions class. Shall we go?"

"Yeah, this way," said Harry, taking the lead, as the group proceeded even further down the corridor. At last, they came to a small archway that led to a set of double wooden doors. It was through these that Harry led them into, which brought them to a steamy room, crowded with benches and tables.

To Harry's surprise, vapors already filled the room, and a particularly strange smell, that could only come from a potion, had filled the room. It didn't take long to find the source, four large and black cauldrons near the front of the room. Each had some strange, bubbling liquid inside.

Professor Slughorn, a balding and plump man, paced in front of them, though he seemed quite pleased when he saw Harry.

"Let's sit over here," said Hermione, taking a seat as far up front as she could get. Sakura, Naruto, and Harry sat to her left, with Gaara and Ron taking the right. It didn't take long for the other students to fill in.

"Ah," said Professor Slughorn, once the bell had run, "now then, now then, now then, everybody potions kits out, scales out, and don't forget your copy of "Advanced Potion Making."

"Uh, sir," said Harry, suddenly. Professor Slughorn turned to Harry, delighted that he had found an excuse to speak to him, "Harry, m'boy?"

"Err, well, Ron and I don't have any books or scales…or anything for that matter. You see, we didn't think we were going to be able to do the N.E.W.T."

Slughorn waved him off merrily, "Ah, Professor McGonagall did mention, let's see. There's some old stock of books in the cupboard, and I'm sure there are some extra scales around. And by any chance," he said turning to Naruto, Sakura, and Gaara, "do you need an extra items as well?"

The trio shook their heads, as they pulled out their brand new sets of scales and books. Professor McGonagall had foreseen their need for Potions materials.

"Very good," said Slughorn, before disappearing into a back room. He quickly emerged with two very battered green books and some tarnished scales. These he handed out to Harry and Ron respectively. "Well, not much," said Slughorn, shrugging, "but they'll do until you can write to Flourish and Blotts."

With that done, he quickly staggered to his desk, and faced the class, "Now then! I've prepared a few potions for you to have a look at, you know, just out of interest. These are the kind of things you 'should' be able to make after completing your N.E.W.T studies. You ought to have heard of 'em, even if you hadn't made 'em yet. So, then, anyone know what this is?"

To Harry, Ron, Gaara, and Sakura, the liquid looked like plain water. Apparently Hermione and Naruto saw some distinct 'thing' in it, for their hands shot straight up.

Another classic moment. Hermione's hand even lowered slightly, when she realized she was not the only one volunteering to answer. She was even more embarrassed to find out her competition was a boy.

Professor Slughorn looked startled as well. His head turned back and forth between the two, obviously struggling to pick one. To him, both looked determined to answer the question ahead of the other. Deciding manners was best, Slughorn nodded to Hermione, who immediately blurted out, "it's Veritaserum, a colorless, odorless potion that forces the drinker to tell the truth."

"Very good, very good," said Slughorn happily, before pointing to the second one. This one, to Sakura, Harry, Ron, and Naruto looked like a mud like substance that bubbled slowly. Actually, the name of it was on the tip of Harry's tongue, as he certainly recognized it.

"So, this one was featured in a Ministry Leaflet. Who can---?" This time, Naruto's hand was undeniably the first one. The blonde smirked at Hermione, who was looking at him like she had never seen such nerve.

Professor Slughorn laughed, "It seems our foreign guests would like to try. Well, then, tell us! What is this?" "It's called Polyjuice Potion. It allows the drinker to take the physical form of another through means of their hair."

Hermione's mouth dropped. She couldn't believe someone had out-answered her. Harry and Ron couldn't believe it either. Not just because Naruto had beaten her, but because they had known was it was also. "Looks like those two are going at it," said Gaara, staring at Naruto and Hermione, both having their hands ready for the next question.

"Excellent," said Slughorn, "Ten points to Gryffindor. Well done, lad, well done! I suppose you guests weren't just randomly picked were you." Naruto gave a smirk, "Nope, we're the best they've got." And Slughorn didn't know how true this comment was.

"So, moving on to this," said Slughorn, pointing at a third bottle, which seemed to be the one, most of the students were focused on. Although they didn't know it, this potion smelled differently to each person, according to their interests. To Gaara, it smelled like sand, oddly enough. To Sakura, it smelled like flowers that only grew in her homeland. To Naruto, it smelled like ramen from Ichiraku Ramen. To Harry, it smelled like sweets and candy. To Ron, it smelled like butterbeer. And to Hermione it smelled like freshly mowed grass and fresh parchment.

"Anyone…" Slughorn stopped as Naruto and Hermione's hands shot up simultaneously. Both seemed to be preoccupied with their little race, as they both shouted, "I'm first!" "Well, it almost seems foolish to ask," said Slughorn, with a genuine smile, "Very well, you can take it," he said, pointing at Hermione. Naruto, looking crestfallen, dropped his hand. Sakura patted him on the back, though she was trying to hold back her giggles.

"It's Amortentia. The most powerful love potion in the world." Slughorn smiled, "Good girl. Take ten points for Gryffindor. You recognized it, I assume by its distinctive mother-of-pearl sheen?"

Hermione nodded, "Yes, and by the steam rising in characteristic spirals. And the fact that it smells differently to each person, depending on what attracts them, and it smells to me like…" Here Hermione turned red, and stopped.

Slughorn, nodding at her with a thoughtful look asked, "Might I ask your name, my dear?" "Hermione," replied said girl, "Hermione Granger." Slughorn placed his hands into his hair, ruffling it up a bit, "Granger? Granger? Aha, might you be related to Hector Dagworth-Granger, founder of the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers?"

Hermione's smile dropped, "Err…no. you see, I'm muggle-born." Although it was soft, the sudden noise didn't escape Sakura nor Gaara's attention. Draco, who was surrounded by a group of Slytherins, had proceeded to laugh silently behind Hermione's back. Naruto, who happened to be too focused on the potions failed to see Sakura and Gaara exchange very dark glances. "We won't do anything here," whispered Gaara, "later."

Meanwhile, Slughorn had clapped his hands together with joy. He quickly turned to Harry, "Oho! '_One of my best friends is muggle-born, and she's the best in our year!' _I'm assuming this is the very friend you spoke of."

Harry, who's mouth was open slightly, surprised at the fact Slughorn would remember such a detail, nodded. "Yes, sir." Slughorn beamed from Harry to Hermione. "Well, well," he said genially, "take another twenty well-earned points for Gryffindor, Miss Granger."

Hermione, who was absolutely delighted, turned to Harry, "Oh, Harry! Did you really tell him I'm the best of our year?" Ron, seemingly annoyed said, "what's so special about that. I would have said so if he asked me. You "are" the best in our year."

Meanwhile, Naruto and Sakura shared a glance. Both thought they saw a certain jealousy in Ron's eye. Both stifled their laughter.

"Yes, well, anyway, back t Amortentia," said Slughorn. "Amortentia doesn't really create love, of course. It's impossible to manufacture or imitate love. No, this will simply create a powerful infatuation or obsession. It's probably, if used incorrectly, the most powerful potion in this room—oh yes, Mr. Uzumaki." Naruto was looking quite skeptical at the potion.

"When you have seen obsessive love as I have, you too, will know the dangers of it." "I guess," said Naruto, though he continued to look at it. "Better keep it away from him," said Hermione to Sakura, "or his perverted ways might get worse." While Gaara, Harry, and Ron laughed, Naruto glared at the two.

"And now, it is time for us to start work," said Professor Slughorn, as he walked passes his four cauldrons. "Sir, you haven't told us what this is," said Gaara, pointing towards the last cauldron. The liquid looked like pure molten metal and seemed to happily splash inside the cauldron, in a way much different from just bubbling.

"Oho," said Slughorn, in a way that showed he hadn't forgotten about it, but had waited to be asked for dramatic effect, "well, that ones called Felix Felicis. I take it, Mr. Uzumaki, you know what it does?"

"That's lucky potion right there," said Naruto, "it's supposed to be make the drinker lucky in everything he tries. Though, it's a banned product in a variety of activities and clubs. It should be taken sparingly too, because it causes recklessness and is toxic in large amounts."

"Excellent," said Professor Slughorn, "if you weren't a foreign guest, I'd say you took the potion yourself. Surprisingly accurate; you sure did your reading." Naruto grinned from ear to ear, while Hermione scowled at him. Apparently Slughorn had seen fit to switch one and off between them.

"But anyway, take a good twenty points for Gryffindor," said Slughorn, who was obviously in a great mood. Harry and Ron shared glances, "Nice, Naruto. You and 'mione just got us fifty points for Gryffindor." Naruto beamed, while Hermione sulked at the fact she had only gotten twenty of the fifty points.

"When did Naruto get so good at Potions," asked Sakura to Gaara. "He creates a clone to sleep, while he goes out to practice. He, Sasuke, Neji, Kakashi, and I haven't got a wink of sleep since we got here. But it's only been a day, so it's no problem. I guess Naruto snuck a few materials out and practiced all night. Sasuke and Neji have been training, and Kakashi and I are working on Charms and Transfiguration."

Sakura blinked and looked at him with surprise, "You guys are out there? But, how come I didn't see you? I was doing night shifts with Shikamaru." Gaara shrugged, "Well, we weren't exactly doing it out in the open." Sakura, though she wanted to, was unable to press the point as Slughorn continued, "Desperately tricky to make, and very dangerous if brewed incorrectly. However, done right, as this one was, you will find whatever you endeavor will be likely to succeed."

"So, why don't people drink it all the time," asked Ron. Slughorn looked at him, as if he hadn't been paying attention, "Well, like Mr. Uzumaki said. It's toxic in large amounts and can cause giddiness and recklessness. But, taken very sparingly, you will find two ordinary days, become extraordinary."

"Have you ever taken it," asked Hermione. "Yes, twice in my life," said Slughorn, staring off into space and time, "two spoonfuls at morning, two perfect days, ahh." Nobody knew if he was telling the truth, but his effect on them was immediate. Already, people began plotting ways to get some Felix Felicis.

"And, this is the prize I will be offering to one of you at the end of class." Saying this, the professor pulled out a small bottle, and scooped a little of the potion into it. "Just this much will give you about twelve hours of luckiness. Whatever you try, you will succeed at."

At this, everyone, including the Shinobi sat up straight, eagerly looking for the details. To Hermione, this would be a showing of her talent. To Harry and Ron, this was lucky potion, how could they miss it? To the Shinobi, this was a way to get some of the potion easily, examine it, and possibly, duplicate it. And, to Draco Malfoy, this was a potion he desperately couldn't afford to just miss.

"We need to win this," said Gaara to Sakura. "Naruto will probably be our best bet," she replied, "but we need to make sure Hermione doesn't win." Gaara gulped, "I'd hate to do this, but if you see she's in the lead, add something extra." Sakura hesitated, "that's pretty low." Gaara nodded, "I know, but as Shinobi, we must put our job first. Right now, it's in our best interests to get that potion. And stealing it is out of the question. I have already tried using my sand to bottle a bit of that potion, but it seems to reject me. I have a feeling only Slughorn can extract it.

Meanwhile, Slughorn continued speaking, "So, how are you going to win this little prize, you wonder? By turning to page ten of your Advanced Potion Making books." Everyone did so, and found themselves looking at "The Draught of Living Death" potion.

Naruto, ready to go with his cauldron, only awaited Slughorn to give the go sign. He had found an excellent cheat to this. Kyuubi has seen many of these potions before, being a demon from the beginning of time. The great demon fox made changes here and there to the potions Naruto already tried, and each time, they were perfect. It's true the potions were beginner and intermediate leveled ones, but the same applications would probably apply here. And, with the Advanced Potion Making book, he could now try harder, but more valuable potions.

"Let's see," said Slughorn, glancing at the clock, "we have a little over an hour left to us. That should be just about the amount of time you need to attempt it. I know it is more complex than anything you have ever done before, but I'd like you all to try all the same. I do not expect a perfect potion from you, but the person who does the best, will win little Felix over here. And now, you may begin."

There was a scraping of benches, and a ruffling of pages, as people rifled through materials, and got up towards the cupboard. Being the most determined, Naruto and Hermione made it there first, with Harry, Ron, Gaara, and Sakura brining up their rear.

In a flash, Naruto and Hermione were measuring things and cutting them up. Meanwhile, Sakura was right behind them, cutting and dumping into her cauldron. She seemed to be right on par with Hermione and Naruto, and secretly she watched the former for signs of a breakthrough.

Across the shinobi, Harry and Ron desperately tried to read their old and worn books. To Harry's annoyance, he found that the previous owner had scribbled out instructions and wrote down what seemed like meaningless blabber. To that fact, the owner had scribbled all over the book.

As time went on, Harry looked around at the room, wondering how far everyone was getting. Bluish steam was already rising up from the cauldrons. Irritated, Harry too began dumping ingredients into his cauldron. He quickly glanced at Naruto and Hermione, hoping to get a clue. Not much to his surprise, both of them had the black currant-colored liquid, which the book mentioned as the halfway point. Harry glanced at the clock. It had only been fifteen minutes since they started.

Annoyed, Harry looked back at his own instructions, only to find that the owner, for some reason, had taken to issue with the instructions and entirely crossed it out. Underneath, Harry could make out 'Crush roots with flat side of silver dagger. Releases juice better than cutting.'

And to Harry's displeasure, the bean he was cutting was proving very difficult. He quickly looked around, and, spotting Hermione's silver dagger, he said, "Hermione, can I borrow your silver knife?"

Hermione, not bothering to look away from her potion, which still seemed identical to Naruto's tossed her knife back in a careless and dangerous manner. Harry had to quickly remove his arm to avoid the dagger which planted itself right where his arm had been a moment ago.

"Thanks, 'Mione," muttered Harry, darkly, as he took the dagger. Taking a gamble, Harry pressed down against his root with the blunt side of the knife. To his surprise, and great delight, the root quickly exuded so much juice, it was surprising the shriveled root could hold so much.

Harry quickly scooped up the liquid, and watched as his liquid turned the exact shade of lilac his book mentioned. Deciding to look up, Harry noticed, with amusement, that neither Naruto nor Hermione seemed to be at this point. He took a look at the others. Sakura and Gaara were still at the halfway point. Everyone else, and sadly, including Ron, was nowhere near his point. Ron had some tar-like substance already in his cauldron.

'**I don't get it Kyuubi, what's going wrong with ours. I've followed your instructions perfectly.' **Kyuubi's deep, growling voice didn't respond for a moment. A moment later, Kyuubi said, **'Look at the Potter boy's potion. I think he knows something. Maybe his book has some written instructions that may help. He does after all have a used book.'**

"How are you doing that," demanded Hermione. Harry looked at her potion, which was still deep purple. He quickly glanced at Naruto, who also had a deep purple colored potion. Unlike Hermione though, he seemed to gaze thoughtfully at Harry's book.

It was here, Sakura first noticed how far Naruto was proceeding. She nodded to Gaara, and was about to insert an ingredient, when Naruto snatched it away. "No, Sakura. Don't worry; we'll still get the potion. I think I know why he's further than us. Don't put anything in there. Even if we tie, its better that Harry gets some lucky juice too, don't you think?"

Sakura glanced at Gaara, who shrugged and nodded. Meanwhile, Naruto quickly got up and went to cupboard. When he returned, Hermione and Harry were already stirring their cauldrons, though from the looks of it, Harry was way ahead.

Back at Harry, whose irritation vanished with the last set of instructions noticed he next had to stir the liquid counter clockwise until it turned as clear as water. Underneath this, the owner added that after every seven counterclockwise stirs, you add a clockwise stir. Harry, already risking it all, decided to take the gamble.

He slowly stirred seven times counter, and then, taking a breath, stirred the other way. The effect was immediate, as the potion turned palest pink. Grinning delightedly and feeling elated, Harry looked up. Nobody, as far as he could see, had the same pale potion he had. Ron was cursing under his breath. His cauldron contained a pure black substance. Sakura and Gaara had deep purple potions, and both looked confused. Hermione's potion was a much lighter purple, but nothing like his, and she was rapidly stirring. Smiling, Harry turned to Naruto. His smile fell. Naruto's potion was almost exactly like his.

Desperately, Harry began stirring rapidly, that by the time Slughorn finally stood, and called "Time," both he and Naruto's potions were as clear as water, hopefully the perfect complete potion.

"Well, stop stirring please," said Slughorn, "And, I'll see how you all did."

Walking around the room, making occasional faces and comments, though more faces, it was obvious nobody had a satisfactory potion.

Finally, Slughorn arrived at his table. He smiled ruefully at Ron's tar-like substance, and clapped Sakura and Gaara on the back for theirs. He then turned to look at the remaining three. Peering into Hermione's potion, Slughorn made some comments, "Ah, excellent, Ms. Granger. Not enough juice from the roots. That's what gives it the lighter color you see. Still, excellent work."

"And last, Mr. Uzumaki and Mr., Potter," said Slughorn, peering into both their cauldrons. The look on Hermione and Malfoy's face was absolutely priceless, as Slughorn threw his hands into the air and shouted, "MARVELOUS. Our clear winners! Unbelievable!"

Sakura and Gaara looked at each other; both surprised Naruto had actually managed to win a potion.

"You've obviously inherited your mother's talent," said Slughorn, "she was a dab hand at Potions, Lily was. Here you are then; here you are…one bottle of Felix Felicis. And use it well."

"And you," said Slughorn turning to Naruto, with, if possible, even more delight, "you must be very extraordinary as well. Your first time in a Potions room if I'm right, and a perfect potion. Here you are, here you…a bottle of Felix Felicis. You've earned it, lad."

And with that, the bell rang, signaling the end of class. Harry, pocketing his bottle of Felix Felicis felt delighted seeing the furious faces of the Slytherins, while slightly guilty, seeing Hermione's hurt face, that, once in her life, she had placed third.

"How did you do that," asked Ron, incredulously, to Harry and Naruto. "Got lucky, I suppose," said Harry, when Malfoy was in earshot. Naruto shrugged, "I just followed the directions." Hermione, hearing this also, sulked by. Sakura quickly went to cheer her up, leaving the four boys to follow them out.

"Nice job, Harry," whispered Naruto, as they exited. Harry looked up to see Naruto wink at him. "Good thing you, uh…figured to crush the root with the flat side of the dagger, eh?" While Ron and Gaara looked them oddly, Harry's mouth dropped, though it quickly curled into a smile. "You looked at my book? Aw, you cheater. No wonder your potion was the exact same as mine."

Naruto grinned, "I couldn't let Hermione beat me, eh? And I saw you knew something about it. So I went to the cupboard and when I came back I sneaked a peek at your book. I have a good eye and it's served me well before." Harry shook his head, "Hermione's going to kill us if she finds out."

"What book is this," asked Gaara, curiously. And, without the knowledge of the two females ahead, Harry showed them his copy of Advanced Potion Making, flipping through the pages and revealing to them the extra instructions on it. Ron looked crestfallen, "Why couldn't Slughorn have given that book. I got the book with nothing written on it. Puked on by the looks of page fifty two."

Harry, Gaara, and Naruto shared a laugh, before they hurried to catch up with Sakura and Hermione for dinner. The two females were waiting at the entrance to the Great Hall. "What took you all so long," asked Hermione stiffly, obviously still obsessed over losing. "Uh," said Ron, "we were just talking to Slughorn. He was going crazy over these two." "Figures" said Hermione a little too violently, as she left them. Sakura shook her head, "Geez, Ron, can't you see she's upset?"

Ron just shrugged, "She'll get over it. She always does."

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_Lionheart: Well, that's it for this chapter. Next on will be up pretty soon. I'm still thinking up a plot for Akatsuki. Anybody have a suggestion?_


	7. Chapter 7: Broomsticks And Flying

_Lionheart: Well, I got a quite a few suggestions for Akatsuki. I have figured out what I'm going to be doing with them and some of the members I mentioned may make an appearance next chapter. As for this one, I am devoting it to the fun and entertaining sport of Quidditch. _

_As for them able to speak English, let's just say for now, that they, as Shinobi, know many different languages. This general idea isn't very important anyway, though thank you all for pointing it out._

_Do enjoy._

**

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**Chapter 7**

**Broomsticks and Flying!**

As the week continued on, Harry and Naruto continued following the instructions of the used Advanced Potion Making copy Harry had, which, they found, had belonged once to a user who called himself 'The Half-Blood Prince.'

And each time, to their pleasure, they found it always yielded better results than the 'official' instructions which Hermione used, causing the girl to scowl at them every time Slughorn would pass by her potions and show off theirs.

But Naruto's apparent skill and non-verbal spells and his abilities in potions did not carry on to the other classes. In Charms, Sakura and Hermione demonstrated their abilities by clearing outperforming both Harry and Naruto with highly advanced Charms.

In Transfiguration, Gaara hit the spotlight, outperforming Hermione by transforming a very large creature into a small teacup, which, to Professor McGonagall, was quite impressive.

And so, at the end of the week, a three-way rivalry seemed to have popped up. Naruto and Harry vs. Sakura and Hermione vs. Gaara. And Ron was just kind of there.

It was at the end of the first week, on a bright and sunny Saturday afternoon, that Naruto, Ron, Gaara, and Harry found themselves lying in the common room, lazily looking through the overview book Dumbledore had given to the Shinobi. They had just completed their homework. With Hermione and Sakura avoiding them as much as possible to practice on their own, Ron and Harry now had to rely on Naruto and Gaara for their homework. Being Shinobi of the highest class, Naruto and Gaara wrote essays and completed homework quite easily. Sharing with Harry and Ron was no problem either.

"Oh, here's a good one," said Harry, pointing to a spell called, 'Stupefy.' "That one's the stunning spell. It's really good if you want to temporarily paralyze someone. Of course, with the Protego spell it's easily defended against. The problem comes with those who can cast it off quickly." Harry broke off, catching Naruto's scheming eye. The former immediately raised his wand, "Don't. We'll just make a mess."

Gaara laughed, "I think we all had enough of getting hit by spells, Naruto. "Pfft, I'll say," said Ron, who just couldn't forget that he was always Naruto's first target.

Naruto laughed, "Alright, alright, I won't stun you guys. So, what other cool spells are there?" Harry looked upwards, thinking to himself. "Well, there's the 'Reducto' spell, which blasts things into pieces. You know kind of like an explosion. Only works on tangible objects though, and usually used on walls, shelves, you know. Then there's 'Impedimenta.' It's a neat little spell which knocks a person back and is for hard defensive armor. And… the 'Incarcerous,' spell, which summons a rope to choke someone.

And let's see…" Here, Harry paused and flipped through Naruto's book some more.

"Ah, looks like Dumbledore's added the Unforgivable Curses in here. I guess it's important you know about them."

"Why are they, unforgivable," asked Gaara. "Well," said Ron, "the Ministry of Magic decided a while back that anybody using one of these three spells was subject to time in Azkaban. That's the Wizarding prison," said Ron, before the question could be asked.

"Yeah, but anyway," continued Harry, "The first one's the Imperius curse. Anybody hit by it is under the control of the caster. So, basically, it's like taking away your ability to think and such. You do whatever the caster of the spell commands. It can be fought though, by strong-willed people."

Naruto looked impressed, "Wow, this magic is serious. Mind Control; I'd better watch my back." "Yeah," said Ron, "when You-Know-Who was last around, he apparently had scores of witches and wizards under the Imperius Curse. Nobody could tell who was an ally and who was an ally under the Imperius Curse. Those were really bad times."

And not surprisingly, after a week, all the Shinobi had picked up the use of "You-Know-Who, although, like Harry and Dumbledore, they resolved to just calling him Voldemort. "Anyway," said Naruto, "What's the next one?"

"The Cruciatus Curse," replied Harry, "also known as the Torture Curse." When you get hit by this one, your whole body feels like its getting pierced by hundreds of invisible knives. I think Hermione mentioned once; something about this curse attacking you at the cellular level. It's really brutal."

"Don't tell you Neville I said this but, his parents were tortured to the point where they lost their minds," said Ron. "And they were two well-known and strong Aurors. The Aurors are like the Wizarding police."

"Safe with me," said Naruto, shrugging. The blonde turned to the last spell, which showed a wizard getting hit by a green light. "And I'm guessing this curse causes instant death?" Harry nodded, "Yeah, the incantation is 'Avada Kedavra.' There's no way to block this curse with wands or magic. The only way to live is to dodge it."

Here, Naruto and Gaara shared a glance. They would need to test that particular theory. "So, why do dark wizards use them," asked Gaara, jokingly. Naruto chuckled, "I expect they like Azkaban." Ron snorted, "No one could 'like' Azkaban. That place is the dirtiest place in the world, a huge piece of rock in the middle of the ocean. And it's guarded by dementors, Voldemort's servants. They drain the happiness out of you, dementors. In worst cases, they suck your soul right out.

Naruto and Gaara both looked startled and troubled by this fact. "How do you fight them," asked Naruto. "Well, they don't like bright lights," said Harry, "but even that sometimes isn't enough to get rid of them." "There's a spell," asked Naruto, who suddenly had that scheming look again. "Err…yeah, but it's really advanced. It's the patronus charm. It creates a bright light and drives off a dementor. That's just the general idea. Complete mastery of it means that your patronus can take an animal form. Mine just happens to be a stag. Ron over here has a dog."

"Excellent, so what's the incantation," asked Naruto. "Well, it's 'Expecto Patronum,' but just the incantation alone won't save you. You need to fill your entire soul with a happy thought, which by the way, is very difficult. Dementors drain people of happy thoughts, leaving them only with the horrors of their past. So, it's easy enough to practice. The real test comes with actually facing one. We can practice it if you like?"

Naruto waved him off, "Nah, I'll do it some other time. I've got enough spells to perfect," said Naruto, idly waving his wand around. "Actually," interrupted Gaara, "seeing as how you need us to fill in your spots on the Quidditch team, I was wondering if you could show us how to play."

Naruto, who was now muttering, suddenly ceased and sat up. "Oh, Quidditch. Yeah, that sounds fun!"

Harry blinked, "Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that. I better make sure you guys are ready to go before the first game. That means we have about seven weeks. That should be enough for you to get the basics. C'mon, I'll ask Madam Hooch to lend us the balls and you can borrow some broomsticks from the shed."

And so, Naruto and Gaara followed Ron and Harry outside, and down a long winding path. Along the way, it was decided Gaara would fill in the extra beater position, while Naruto would be a chaser.

"So, let's see if I remember correctly," said Naruto, "as the chaser I fly around and try to score the "Quaffle," a big red ball into one of the opponent's three hoops." "That's right," said Harry, "And you also try to prevent the other team from scoring."

"And, as the beater," continued Gaara, "I use a wooden bat and try to prevent the "Bludgers," fast moving balls from hitting my teammates, while aiming for the other team instead. Isn't that dangerous."

"Yeah, it is," said Harry, with a laugh. "But what's fun without a little risk." Naruto and Gaara chuckled. As shinobi, they were raised to become soldiers. They didn't just have fun with risk. They lived in a world where risk is the first thing they learn. "But, seriously, we haven't had any deaths in so long. And the teachers are there, so if anything happens, they'll help you out. I mean you might break a leg or something, but it's no big deal. And to be honest, I'd rather have an occasional broken bone or two, over 'other' things."

Ron laughed, remembering the fiasco with Gilderoy Lockheart, the Defense Against the Arts Teacher the had their second year. "That guy was a nutcase. He removed all of Harry's bone, so they had to give him so medicine to re-grow it."

Naruto's mouth dropped, "You guys have potions that re-grow bones? What…the… okay, please tell me you were joking." Ron smiled ruefully, but he shook his head, "Serious, mate."

Naruto didn't reply for a moment. When he did, it was only after a deep breath, "Okay, too much information, let's just…get these broomsticks." Gaara laughed, "You know, he has a point. You wizards make some sick potions." "Well," argued Harry, "if it weren't for that, I wouldn't have any bones." Gaara tried to look at this way. "I see," he said, though it wasn't clear if he 'saw' anything at all.

"Here we are," said Harry, when they finally reached the broom shed. Disappearing inside, the boy soon reappeared with two very battered looking brooms. "These are old models, but they'll do, until I can order you guys some…nicer brooms. Nimbus 2000's or 2001's would probably do the trick. Oh, and I forgot to mention. On stormy days, make sure you wear goggles and clothing that can conduct electricity."

Naruto sweat dropped, "W-wh-w-whoa! Hold it! You guys play in lightning?" Harry nodded, "Of course." Naruto shook his head, "Geez, are you 'trying' to scare me from getting on this broom. First, you go on about bludgers whacking people off their brooms hundreds of feet in the air. Then, you talk about someone removing your bones, and potions that re-grow them. And now, you're telling me I have to not get hit by lightning? And at the same time I have to try and play a game hundreds of feet in air on an old, used broomstick that's supposed to fly?"

Harry chuckled nervously, "Well, that's why you need better broomsticks. For now, just get the feel of flying. The control and maneuverability isn't good on that one, but it'll help with control when you move on to better broomsticks.

Naruto shrugged, "Okay, here goes nothing." With that the blonde swung a leg over his broomstick. The three others laughed. "What," asked Naruto. Gaara began making spin movements with his finger, while Ron rolled on the floor with laughter. Naruto's eyes narrowed, "wrong way?"

"Yeah, mate," said Harry, who was failing to hide the laughter in his eyes.

Naruto snorted, before switching positions. Immediately the broom rose up on the air. Startled, Naruto swung wildly, and fell off as the broom shot straight forward. "Ohhh," moaned Naruto, as he rubbed his back, "What happened? Why did it just shoot forward."

"Well, when you start moving crazily like that, that's what happens," said Harry, who now got onto his own Firebolt. Here, watch. Gently touch off from the ground to hover, and then ease your broom into movement by leaning your body the way you want to go. Remember, you control the broomstick. The broomstick is just an extension of your body."

"Hrm," said Naruto, swinging his leg over his broom, which had returned on its own. "Well, if you put it that way, let's see what this baby can do." Naruto gently touched off the ground and took a deep breath. And then, the broom shot off. Only, it did not go forward, but backwards. Ron fell laughing again, while Harry was nearly in tears at the sight.

A crash later, and Naruto had returned. "Okay, what did I do wrong this time?" "It's the broom's fault," said Harry, with a laugh. "I told you they were really old. Here, maybe this one is better."

Naruto snatched it away, and swung his leg over again. This time, to the blonde's relief, the broom went forward. "Good," said Naruto, touching back down. "There you go, mate," said Ron, clapping softly. "Now, gently lean forward again, see how far you can go," said Harry.

If anything, Naruto did not gently lean, for, with a battle cry of some sort, the blonde shot off into the air, with a speed even Harry had not expected. Around the practice field Naruto went, doing spins, loops and circles. At one point, the blonde decided to stand on his broom, and with the balance of a pro, he went around their heads, posing in different stances for an invisible audience.

Down below, the three watched in awe. "He's…good," said Ron. "Really good," said Harry, "natural talent maybe? Only a very few select people can stand on a broom on his first time. " "Looks like Naruto's one of the select few. Well, balance is one of our training exercises back in Japan. Maybe that helps too," added Gaara. The Kazekage looked up again, and, this time, winced. "Uh-oh," said Gaara.

Apparently slipping, Naruto was now holding onto the broom with one hand, while hanging from it. Without its master, the broom had begun to flying in small circles. "Hey, this thing is unfair. It was supposed to make a small turn, not a sharp one."

Harry sighed, "It's an old model. It has very poor maneuverability, remember." "Oh," shouted Naruto, who had finally managed to climb back on. Harry looked back at Ron, "Well, I think he would make a good Chaser, how about you?" Ron nodded, "Yeah, he's got a lot of speed, which is good, and he seems to be able to fly well with distraction, which is important for Chasers too, since they often need let go of their broom while flying."

"Hah, that fool," said Gaara, "take a look guys." Harry and Ron looked up. They both laughed. Some distance away, Naruto was hanging by a branch on a thirty foot tall tree. The broom hovered nearby. The three boys ran over and looked up. From what they saw, it appeared Naruto had tried to fly under a branch, but his shirt had got caught, and he was yanked back.

"Hey, I'm stuck!" "That's obvious," said Gaara, laughing. Naruto scowled, "Haha, joke's over, now blast me off of here." Gaara blinked with amusement, before looking at Harry and Ron. All three nodded and raised their wands.

"WAIT! I only need Gaara. H-hold on guys, wait up! No, don't! Ahhh…."

"Reducto," shouted Harry, aiming just a few inches above Naruto's head, at the branch. "Stupefy," shouted Ron, eager to get Naruto as he came down. "Petrificus Totalus," shouted Gaara, eager to get revenge for being embarrassed by him.

The three spells all shot at once; resulted in the branch Naruto was on to literally explode, sending the blonde flying in midair. Then hit by the stunning spell, Naruto was left paralyzed and unable to dodge the body-bind spell, which left him bound, stunned, and reeling from the aftershock of the branch exploding.

"Funny sight," said Harry, peering down at their blonde friend, who was stuck in a very awkward position, with his mouth set on something between a scream and a yell of surprise. "Look at his face," said Ron, trying to rearrange his own, "his mouth is raised over on the left here."

Harry laughed, "Alright, let's get him back on his feet, then Gaara, you can have a try. Enervate," said Harry, pointing at Naruto's throat. The Genin's eyes fluttered for a moment, and then he sat up. Although he had been stunned, he had heard everything going on. With his cheeks turning red, he raised his own wand, "my turn," he whispered.

Harry raised his wand in defense, though it was unnecessary. As Naruto brought down his own wand, a feminine voice yelled, "Expelliarmus!"

Have you ever seen a person who is dumbfounded after losing something which was just in his hands? That was pretty much Naruto, as he stared at the empty space, which previously had been occupied by his wand. The wand, meanwhile, sailed in a nice arc, where two females stood. The two females being Hermione and Sakura. Both stepped aside, as the wand clattered to the ground.

"Hermione? What are doing here," asked Harry. "Sakura saw you guys with the brooms, and decided she wanted to have a try," she said, shrugging, "I saw you fly, Naruto, that was pretty good." And coming from Hermione, that was something.

Naruto scratched his head, "Hehe, I've just got talent, don't I?" Hermione's smiled faded a bit, "Modest too," she said. "Umm," said Harry, "anyway, Gaara, you can…"

He broke off however, as Sakura ripped the broomstick from Gaara's hands and swung her leg over. I don't know much, but this shouldn't be hard," she yelled, before shooting off, in a similar manner to Naruto's, though without the yelling. At first, the Kunoichi contented herself with a few laps around the field.

"Not bad," said Harry, thoughtfully, after her fifth lap, "but so far nothing extraordinary." "Just wait," said Hermione, "just because you boys are so quick to jump to everything, doesn't mean everyone is."

And she was right. After her sixth lap, Sakura began to loops in circles, spin, and do daring dives, before pulling up right before the ground. Whereas Naruto was quick and flashy, Sakura was graceful and had perfect timing. Both were valuable in Quidditch, especially for the Chasers.

"Damn, she's good," said Ron, gawking. Hermione smiled, "Watch this," she said. And to Harry, Naruto, Gaara, and Ron's amazement, Sakura flew straight for a branch; similar to the one Naruto had got caught on. For a moment, it seemed she would hit the branch, but at the last moment, she slid to the underside of the broom, and passed right by. Then, with some effort, she pulled herself right side up and, to the boy's further amazement, stood up onto the broom, before flying down and coming to a perfect stop.

"How's that," she asked, with the hint of a smile. Ron's mouth opened and closed a few times. Harry just stared. Gaara and Naruto shared a glance of utter amazement. "Y-you're…good," said Harry lamely. Sakura laughed, "I guess. So, did I make the team?" Harry looked at Ron, Naruto, and Gaara, hoping one of them would answer for him. He didn't want to know what would happen if he said, "no," and he didn't want to just accept her on the spot without looking at Gaara first. And, if he made her wait, she may take it as a 'no' anyway."

"I-I…ugh…you…err…I mean." Sakura frowned, "Huh?" "IneedtolookatGaarafirst!" Sakura raised an eyebrow, "Umm…okay," she said. Hermione laughed, "Geez, Harry, you don't need to act so nervous. Sakura can wait while Gaara goes for a run." "Of course," agreed the Kunoichi, "As the captain you have to choose the two of us who are the best. I know! Go ahead Gaara, show us what you got," she said, tauntingly. Gaara frowned. He did not like the new girly Sakura. Hermione was having too much of an influence on her. Either that, or Sakura was putting her heart and soul into being a sixteen year old, possibly forgetting that she was a twenty six year old woman.

Harry breathed in relief that the two girls seemed so willing to let Gaara have a go. "Alright, Gaara, finally! You're turn." Gaara nodded, and without a word, swung his leg over the broom, the same way Naruto and Sakura had done.

"Here goes," said the Kazekage, before shooting off. The Kazekage followed much the same course Naruto had, spinning, looping, and turning sharply. Unfortunately, as Harry later pointed out with great regret, they were lacking in the excitement and emotion and flashy style that Naruto's flying had.

The Kazekage took it nicely though, just making Harry promise that he could still practice from time to time. Harry readily agreed.

And so, the extra Chaser and Beater positions were filled. Sakura would take the Chaser position, while Naruto would be their Beater. And, even better, both were pretty good to start on the brooms, so the only thing Harry would need to train them in was strategy and special plays. The other thing left for Harry to do was to hold trials for the main team. Unfortunately, after their first training day, Harry was exhausted, and would hold them another day.

**Later In The Evening: The Common Room**

"Well," said Harry, as the time rapidly approached eight, "I'm going to head out for Dumbledore. Today's my first private lesson. I don't want to be late."

Hermione looked up from Snape's essay, the second to last that he would give before Kakashi took over, "Oooh, we'll wait up Harry. We want to hear what he teaches." "Have fun," said Naruto, cheerfully, before turning back to his Potions book. "Good luck, mate," said Ron, before he and Gaara went back to their own homework.

Harry muttered a good bye, and then stepped through the portrait hole. He was unaware that Naruto very stealthily followed him, leaving behind a perfect Shadow Clone behind him. Only Gaara and Sakura knew that he had done it.

"Now, then, Dumbledore, what are you guys up," asked Naruto to himself, as he ran along the ceiling over Harry, "I can't very well protect him if he's wandering off to you."

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_Lionheart: This one was so boring to write XD. Oh well, the next one will have some developments. Naruto vs. Akatsuki maybe? Oh, did I say something…Oops…_


	8. Chapter 8: Encounter

_Lionheart: Sorry I missed a few days. Had to work and I just had to read the seventh book. It's a little grim and morbid in my opinion, but an excellent story all the same. It's kind of hard to believe the series is finally over…over! Just like that. So sad._

_Anyways…_

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**Chapter 8**

**Encounter**

Naruto groaned for the fifth time that evening. He had just rounded a corner to find out that his target was nowhere in sight. It had been awhile since he and Harry had left the common room.

Unknown to Harry, Naruto carefully followed him from one hundred feet behind. At first they had descended a few stairs. Quite easy to follow. Once they hit the fifth floor however, Harry, to Naruto's irritation, decided to take some hidden passageways for shortcuts.

And here, the disadvantage came from following from so far away. Once Naruto rounded a corner, Harry would seemingly disappear. Then, the blonde would have to take time to search around tapestries, and paintings and other objects, which seemed to possibly hide some entrance.

'That's it,' thought Naruto, after losing Harry again. 'I'm just going to Dumbledore's office to wait.' And, using Shunshin No Jutsu (Body-Flicker Technique), The Genin rapidly covered the remaining distance to the stone gargoyle, which covered the entrance to Dumbledore's office.

The Genin sighed, 'God, why does this place have so many secret areas, hidden passageways, gargoyles that need passwords…It's like some kind of funhouse.'

At this moment, Naruto heard footsteps around the corner. Worried a student may be passing by; Naruto summoned a piece of cloth and draped it around himself, making the illusion that he was part of the wall.

To his relief, it was Harry coming down the corridor. "Acid Pops," whispered the young wizard. The stone gargoyle immediately sprung to life at these words, and twisted around to reveal a spiraling staircase. These Harry quickly ascended, with Naruto right behind him.

"Come in," whispered a wearied old voice, once Harry knocked. He entered, and without notice, Naruto slipped in, just as the door closed.

"Good, evening, sir," said Harry, walking into the roomy, circular room, that was Dumbledore's office.

"Ah, good evening Harry," responded Dumbledore, waving him to a seat, "please, take a seat. I hope you've had an enjoyable first week back at school," he said, with a smile.

"Err, yes, thanks, sir."

"You must have been busy," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling, "with a detention already under your belt."

Naruto grinned, while Harry did the open and close mouth thing. "Er," said Harry, awkwardly, but Dumbledore held up a hand, "Not to worry. I've arranged for you to do Professor Snape's detention next week instead."

"Right," said Harry, who was much more concerned with the lesson he was supposed to be having, rather than a detention with Snape. He now looked around the room, for any signs of what they would be doing that night. Unfortunately, he didn't gain much. The room looked the same as usual, with the odd instruments here and there, portraits of old headmasters lining the wall, and Fawkes, the phoenix up above Dumbledore's head. There didn't even seem to be room to do spells or duel.

"So, then," said Dumbledore, in a business like tone, "I assume, Harry, that you have been wondering what I have planned for you during these, ah, lessons?"

Harry nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, sir."

"Well, I have decided that now that you know what prompted Lord Voldemort to kill you fifteen years ago, for you to be given certain information."

Harry's eyes narrowed, "I thought you promised to tell me everything last year." Naruto immediately picked up the accusation in his voice, and realized that even the best of people could argue with each other. This was obviously some disagreement they had. "Sir," added Harry.

Dumbledore nodded, expectantly, "And so I did. I told you everything I knew. From this point forth, we shall be leaving the firm foundation of fact and journeying together through the murky marshes of memory into thickets of wild guesswork. From here on, I may be as wrong as the next man. And, forgive my seemingly lack of modesty, but that may not be so good, considering I am cleverer than most other men."

All suspicion left Harry's eyes, and he was now curious. "But, sir, you think you're right?" "Naturally I do, though, when I do make a mistake every now and then, they tend to be correspondingly huger."

Harry nodded to himself, doubting whether Dumbledore was joking or being serious when he mentioned making mistakes.

'If there's anyone least likely to make a mistake it's Dumbledore,' thought the boy. "Right, right," said Harry aloud, "So, uh, sir. Does what you're going to tell me have anything to do with the prophecy Will it help me…eh…survive?"

"It has a great deal to do with the prophecy," said Dumbledore, "and I certainly hope that it will help you survive. But, now, let us get on with the…eh…lesson."

Watching curiously, from the darkest shadows of the ceiling, Naruto watched as Dumbledore stood and proceeded to a wooden cabinet. With a flick of his wand, the doors opened and a stone basin, with odd markings on the rim, slowly slid out on a magical desk.

Naruto immediately recognized it as a Pensieve, a basin, where someone could store and view thoughts, which took the form of thin white threads, which, embarrassingly, Naruto had first mistook for semen.

Meanwhile, right below him, Harry watched the basin with apprehension and nervousness. He had remembered his last encounter with the Pensieve. First, he had seen too much, and then he had been discovered by Dumbledore himself.

Dumbledore peered into the basin, before turning back to Harry. He was about to say something when he noticed Harry's face. "Harry? What's wrong? You look nervous."

Harry looked up. "Uh, I…uh…," muttered the wizard, while pointing at the Pensieve. Dumbledore chuckled, "No worries. This time, you enter the Pensieve with me. And even more unusually, if I may add," said Dumbledore with a knowing smile, "with my permission."

Harry opened his mouth, but quickly closed it again, "Right, professor," he said lamely. "So, where are we going?"

Dumbledore pulled out a small and clear bottle. Naruto immediately recognized the white substance inside. Immediately his cheeks flushed red.

"A trip down Bob Ogden's memory lane," said Dumbledore, waving the bottle slightly.

"Who's Bob Ogden?"

"He was employed by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement," replied Dumbledore. "He died some time ago, but, fortunately for us, I managed to track him down and persuade him to confide these recollections to me. We are about to accompany him on a visit he made during the course of his duties."

"Persuade," asked Harry, with a grin, thinking immediately of Dumbledore's skill as a Legilimens (Mind-Reader, for short explanation). Dumbledore laughed, "Well, not the kind you are thinking of. But that's a story for another time. If you will stand Harry, I will…"

Here, Harry and Naruto's attention were brought back to Dumbledore's right hand, which was stiff and in pain. "Um," said Harry, watching Dumbledore having trouble removing the cork to his bottle, "Sir, if you need me to…"

Finally giving up, Dumbledore set the bottle down, "No need Harry." And, with a wave of the wand, the cork flew out. "There we go," said Dumbledore, emptying the contents into the Pensieve. "Sir," said Harry, still gazing at the blackened hand, "How did you injure your hand?"

But Dumbledore shook his head, "Now's not the time, Harry. We have an appointment with Bob Ogden. So, then, after you," said Dumbledore, gesturing towards the Pensieve.

Reluctantly, Harry tore his gaze from Dumbledore's hand and approached the Pensieve. He then peered into it, before plunging his face entirely into the water. The familiar sense of leaving his feet and falling in a circular motion came to him, before he suddenly slammed onto the ground of Bob Ogden's memory world and bright sunshine.

Now, the reader must forgive me, as we journey back to the real world, where certain events are about to occur.

Back in Dumbledore's office, the old wizard muttered a word, before pointing his wand into the Pensieve. Satisfied, he looked up. "Mr. Uzumaki, if you would care to come down."

From his hiding spot, Naruto's mouth dropped, though he failed to see any point in remaining where he was. And so, the blonde dropped down to the floor.

"How did you know I was here," asked Naruto, frowning.

Dumbledore shrugged, "Ah, you see, even though you may be stealthy, I make it my game to 'notice' things, I guess you can say. Harry had not closed the door, before I realized I had a second visitor. This is convenient, as I was just about to call for you anyway. I temporarily stopped time in the Pensieve, so Harry will not worry that I did not follow right away."

"What did you need me for," asked Naruto, frowning yet again.

"Well, before I tell you, we need to wait for a third guest, which, aha! I fancy that is his step right outside the door."

Naruto whirled around, just as the door opened. The blonde smirked. "Mr. Uchiha, excellent, we were just waiting for you," said Dumbledore, cheerfully.

Sasuke nodded his head to both of them in greeting, "So, what is you wanted Dumbledore-San?" Dumbledore gestured to the window, which just opened.

"First, I have arranged that Miss Haruno and Mister Nara stay in from their duties tonight. Instead, you two will be taking their places, after you report back to me on a task I will send you on."

"What is this task," asked Sasuke.

"Well, as you know, I didn't expect anybody to be able to penetrate the combination of my own defenses and your guards. So, you can imagine my surprise, when, two mysterious visitors showed up right outside my window. And, if I may add, seemingly unscathed as if they had bypassed every defense we have arranged without trouble."

Naruto and Sasuke shared worried glances. "Who was it," they both asked. "The two of them said they knew you two," said Dumbledore, "and they refused to give their identities. They said not to worry, as they were here to help, and that I should send two Shinobi, specifically, you two, down there to meet them. They said they have some information about Konoha and about the Cloud ninja on the way here. I figured there was no harm in at least hearing them out. They currently await you on the Quidditch Pitch."

"Can you at least describe them," asked Naruto, "anything at all. Sasuke and I have met and seen many people and things. Maybe they had a headband, certain clothing, some pattern to them. Anything?"

"Actually, there was something peculiar about their cloaks. They said you would recognize it immediately."

This time, the look exchanged between the two Shinobi were ones of surprise, and then anger. Sasuke turned back to Dumbledore, his eyes narrowed. "Dumbledore-San. These cloaks? Were they black with red clouds on them?"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, and he smiled, "Yes, Mr. Uchiha. Yes, they were."

Sasuke stepped back a step, breathing heavily. "There's no way they could have…how did they get out? I'm going to kill them."

Sasuke proceeded to leap out the window, but a quick move and Dumbledore got there fast. "Ah, Mr. Uchiha. I admire your determination to protect this school, but, ah, right now, you have new commands. I want you to go down there and…speak only to them. If they sincerely pose a threat, then you may eliminate. But I do not wish you to go down there with the intention of fighting."

Sasuke stepped back again, with a deep frown. He looked at Naruto, who stared back emotionlessly. "Fine," said Sasuke, grudgingly, "we will go down and see what they want. But one false move, Dumbledore –San, just one, and I will execute them without hesitation. They are not people to be taken lightly. At one point, they tried to take over our entire country. Luckily, we stopped them."

Dumbledore nodded, "I understand. However, they themselves said that you were unlikely to trust them. One of them told me to…" and here, Dumbledore whispered something into Sasuke's ear that drove the Uchiha into an uncontrollable rage.

"WHAT?! I'm gonna murder him!" Sasuke quickly jumped around Dumbledore and turned towards the window, but Naruto stepped in his path, with a cold look in his eye.

"NO! Sasuke! We already agreed to go down there and speak to them. If it really is Itachi Uchiha, and he really is here for vengeance, then I will let you have free reign. But, until then, we are following orders. If I think you're going to attack them, I'll have to stop you."

Dumbledore was slightly surprised. "This was no longer the Naruto he thought he knew. The childish, funny, and sarcastic Naruto was most certainly not present in this new dark and dangerous Naruto.

Sasuke swallowed, and he too, seemed to have noticed the sudden change in Naruto's behavior. The last thing he wanted was to cause a fight, which he would probably lose. "Hn, fine, I'll go, but you'll do the talking Naruto. And if he makes one threat even, he's dead."

"Agreed," said Naruto, his face softening. "Alright, then Dumbledore-San," said Naruto, stepping onto the window sill. "When would be a convenient time to come report back to you," asked Naruto.

Dumbledore glanced at his watch which read exactly five after eight. "Come back to me at midnight," said Dumbledore, "I'm afraid I, ah, have another appointment after Harry's. And make sure you don't come even a second too soon. I'd actually prefer if you came late then early."

"I see," said Naruto, "very well, we shall try to rejoin you around that time. I must ask that if you notice a cloud of red smoke to immediately summon Kakashi to you. It will mean that we are fighting. And make no doubt we will win," said Naruto, "but Itachi and Kisame are no light pushovers. We may very well fight into the night. Backup would be greatly appreciated if it came to that."

"I understand," said Dumbledore, "now, off you go. And I too must proceed." And with that, Dumbledore tapped the Pensieve, restoring the flow, and dipped his head in as well.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Sasuke were already flying down the walls of the castle, using their chakra to stay balanced. It wasn't long, before they were running on firm ground again, down the same familiar path they had used to reach the Quidditch Field. Past trees and bushes they went, at a pace, if anyone had saw them, would have been impossibly fast.

At a fork however, they turned down a much more worn and dirty path that led towards the stadium, instead of the training grounds. They weren't far down this path, when a familiar snarling voice spoke from the darkness.

"So, you came after all. My, my, don't you look…young. I half thought you were children sneaking out for a late night stroll." Following this, the blue headed shark face of Kisame materialized from the darkness.

"Kisame," greeted Naruto, very coldly. Kisame's eyes narrowed, "Kyuubi Brat," he greeted in response. "Hey," said Sasuke, who had been pale white, "Don't call him that."

Kisame glanced at the Uchiha before shrugging, "Hello to you too, Itachi's little brother." He made particular emphasis on 'little brother.' Sasuke looked like he would very well punch him, when a fourth voice joined the conversation, "Kisame…that's enough. We're not here for any arguments."

Naruto immediately recognized the calm and reserved tone that most definitely belonged to Itachi Uchiha. The man himself soon appeared, and he nodded to Sasuke, whose face was a mix of color being pale white, angry red, and sick green.

"Why are you here," asked Sasuke, suddenly. "Hello to you too little brother." "Why are you here," asked Sasuke, raising his voice slightly. Kisame and Naruto watched on like an audience in a drama play, unsure what would result from the rising tensions they felt.

"Not one for small talk are you, little Sasuke." This seemed to drive Sasuke over the edge, for he immediately growled in rage and would have punched Itachi, had Naruto not grabbed him, "NO, Sasuke. Don't you remember? We promised him."

Sasuke wrenched his hand away from Naruto, and he relented, though he kept his Sharingan well trained on Itachi, who pretended not to notice. "Well," said Kisame, sounding just a little disappointed. He would have liked to see the two Uchihas brawl it out. Their last fight was interrupted by a surprise attack from Kabuto.

"I suppose we should tell you why we're here," said Itachi, still ignoring the death glares from Sasuke.

"That would be wise," said Naruto. Itachi paused for a moment to regard Naruto's threat. He looked like he very well may challenge. Naruto, actually prepared for this, positioned his hands near his wand, ready to draw it at a moment's notice. Itachi was good, but he never encountered magic before.

Then, the Uchiha shrugged, "We are here, I suppose, because your Lord Hokage sent us here." Naruto, who had been expecting a ridiculous statement, was not ready for this one, and his mouth dropped.

"What? Tsunade sent you? Why," asked Sasuke, "You guys are supposed to be in a maximum security prison." Itachi shrugged, "Well, the leader is dead, no thanks to Uzumaki over here," he said to Naruto, who was now listening curiously.

"We promised your Hokage to come aid you in the war against Cloud, in exchange for our freedom. We no longer need the tailed beasts, as that was our leader's greatest desire. Without him, our efforts are pretty much useless. And, I preferably wouldn't like to spend the rest of my days coming up with ways to break out of your prison, which has so many security holes."

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances. "But if you're aiding the war, why are you here," asked Naruto. "Like that old man told you, no doubt," replied Kisame, "we have some important information. And we're supposed to be helping you guys protect this school. You'll no longer need to send your regular guards out."

"Arrogant, aren't you," mumbled Sasuke. The three others paid no attention to this. "Wait," said Naruto, "so what is this information?"

Itachi and Kisame shared a look. "They have two tailed beats. The seven tailed demon and the five tailed demon. Both inside two very strong Jounin hosts. It just happens that they are on their way here."

"W-wait, I thought you two captured the five tailed demon," said Sasuke, who, for the first time, took his eyes off his brother."

"We did," agreed Itachi, "but after you threw us all in prison, the tailed demons were left inside a small, but powerful talisman. The leader knew there was no hope for us. There were only five of us left. Zetsu, Tobi, Kisame, Myself, and the Leader. So, we determined not to give the beasts to you and sealed them into a talisman. And then, the leader used a very powerful jutsu to restore the life of Kakuzu and Deidara. And we recovered Hidan and made a body for him."

The life jutsu took a great toll on the leader's body, and the sealing took a lot of our energy," said Kisame, "so that when you're team of ANBU came, you pretty much over killed us."

Naruto sighed, "I figured as much. It was impossible to torture you guys, so we all left wondering how the hell Kakuzu, Deidara, and Hidan were alive. What about that female member?"

"No time to restore her? Why, did you like her," joked Kisame. Naruto's eyes narrowed, "Yeah right, like anyone could like that cold bitch."

"No, we didn't have time to revive anyone else, and the members voted Kakuzu and Deidara be first. Then you guys came along…and you know what happened." Anyway, I'm guessing Cloud recovered the talisman."

Kisame nodded, "Yes, but they had only extracted two of the beasts, when Itachi and I stole it back." Naruto's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, "Wait a…you actually have it?"

Itachi raised a small white stone from this pouch. There were nine indentations on it, Naruto figured, to represent the nine tailed beasts. Each indentation, save the third, seventh, and last one had an eyeball. This stone, Itachi quickly tossed to Naruto.

Naruto gaped at it for a moment, "Why are you giving me this," he asked suspiciously. "Your friend Gaara, didn't he lose the one tailed raccoon," asked Itachi, "Maybe you should replace it with something a little stronger. I wouldn't recommend the eight tails or the two tails. Nasty tempers they have."

"The Hokage says that if the Kazekage agrees to it, we will insert the six tails into him," said Kisame with a yawn, "and he should be lucky too. Everyone wanted the nine tails or the six tails. If just happens the Cloud ninja did not know which ones to choose, so they flipped coins, assuming the tail beasts to all have same personalities and strength, just with different powers. They were wrong."

"I see," said Naruto, pocketing the stone. "So, the other members are currently fighting Cloud?"

Itachi sighed, "Well, that would have been the best case scenario. Instead, shortly after the Hokage released us, two mysterious hooded figures came to the area, waving short sticks. They shouted something like; 'Imperio,' and suddenly we were fighting Kakuzu and Hidan. Tobi killed one of the hooded, but the other escaped with Hidan and Kakuzu with him. We can only assume that they are dead again or that they have betrayed us against their will."

"Damn," muttered Naruto, "now they have Kakuzu and Hidan, huh? Shikamaru going to be pissed." "What's Imperio," asked Sasuke. "The Imperious Curse," explained Naruto, "It's a curse that allows someone to control the mind of another."

Itachi, Kisame, and Sasuke blinked. "What," they asked simultaneously. Naruto drew his wand quickly, and muttered, "Imperio."

Kisame and Sasuke watched as Itachi, suddenly against his will began hitting his head with a fist. They could see it well timed with movements of Naruto's wand. At last, however, Itachi flicked his hand and Naruto had to jump back to avoid a kunai.

Sasuke and Kisame were still too amazed to respond to the amazing thing they had just seen. Itachi frowned, "I see. That is a dangerous little attack. The Imperius Curse you call it? Unfortunately, my Sharingan cannot block it."

"Of course not," said Naruto, "It's not of Genjutsu, Taijutsu, or Ninjutsu is it?"

Sasuke, who seemed to recover from his initial shock looked up, "So, Zetsu, Tobi, Deidara are fighting Cloud Village with Sand and Leaf?" "That's right," said Itachi, "and we are here to aid you in Cloud's attack."

"Actually, they should have been here by now."

Naruto and Sasuke shared a glance. They turned back to Kisame and Itachi, but both had leapt up. "Naruto, watch out," shouted Sasuke, jumping to the side, and activating his own Sharingan in the process.

"Damnit," said Naruto, as three swords suddenly implanted themselves in his back, "Stupid, stupid, stupid." The blonde quickly crashed to the ground, and lay there motionless.

* * *

_Lionheart: Aha, a lame ending I know, but it leaves a little cliffhanger. Once again, I apologize for the wait._


	9. Chapter 9: Nighttime Adventures

_Lionheart: Hehe, a long delay between chapters…I wanted to apologize for that. I don't really have an excuse, except the fact I just stopped. I'm sure those of you who write stories do that sometimes. _

_Anyway, I enjoyed all of the wonderful reviews everyone sent and I cannot thank you guys enough. They're so inspiring. And yes, the whole thing with Pein reviving the Akatsuki was a little…eh… off, but what's a little "off"ness in fanfiction eh?_

* * *

**Chapter 9**

**Nighttime Adventures**

"Damnit," said Naruto, as three swords suddenly implanted themselves in his back, "Stupid, stupid, stupid." The blonde quickly crashed to the ground, and lay there motionless.

"NARUTO!" Sasuke rushed to his comrade's fallen body, though, after touching the body, his frown softened a bit.

Meanwhile, Itachi and Kisame, both of whom had landed a short distance away, were now squaring off against four figures. Two of them wore black robes and strange silver masks, which somewhat resembled a creature. The other two, clearly cloud ninja (based on their headbands), wore similar masks to hide their faces, though both had their trademark ANBU katanas drawn.

"Well, looks like we've run into some death eaters," said Sasuke, smirking, "and some Cloud shinobi. I feel honored." Kisame grinned menacingly, baring his teeth, "Aha! Maybe I'll get to play after all today," rasped the Akatsuki member nastily, while unwrapping the bandages off his Samehada.

Meanwhile, the four strangers glanced at Naruto's motionless body.

Out of the two Death Eaters, the shorter one seemed to have conjured the swords for he cursed and shouted, "Damnit, I only got one."

He waved his wand around in a frantic state, and if he had expected to have gotten more victims. For some reason, and this may be due to the fact he had just recently been put under the Imperius curse, Itachi wasn't so happy to see this wand.

"Don't be fooled," said one of the Cloud ninja, who had a deep voice, and bulky muscles to go with it. "That blonde may have appeared to have been hit. He timed his maneuver perfectly so that to your untrained eyes, it appeared he had taken the hit, but he's actually been hiding in the shadow of that one there," he said, pointing to Sasuke.

The Death Eater, slightly irritated he had been mocked, nevertheless directed his wand at Sasuke. From behind the Uchiha, Naruto stepped out, unscathed, and looking none the worse.

"So you saw through that little trick," said Naruto, as if it were an every day thing to have his tricks discovered. "Not bad. And here I was thinking I had you all fooled."

"You'll have to be much quicker to fool my eyes," said the Cloud Shinobi, "little twerp." Sasuke snorted, and pulled out his Kusanagi.

"I don't like you." The Cloud ANBU laughed, and dropped his own sword. Immediately he pulled a rather interesting looking set of steel Tonfa's.

Sasuke laughed, "You think those things are going to stop my Kusanagi sword? You are obviously a fool. This is why I loathe Cloud ninja. You're all morons!" With that Sasuke vanished and appeared behind the Cloud ANBU.

"NOW DIE!" The younger Uchiha swung his sword with such speed, that it appeared the Cloud ANBU would be cut to ribbons, but as abruptly as it was swung, it was stopped. "Not bad," said Naruto, amused, watching the scene play out.

The second Cloud ninja had come between the two and caught the blade with nothing but two fingers. Sasuke glared at his new opponent before he flicked his unarmed wrist. A kunai flew out, which the second Cloud ninja responded by ducking. Unfortunately, the kunai pierced the mask, which promptly broke to reveal a young blonde woman.

"It's a woman," said Sasuke, surprised and leaping back towards his own group. "Thanks for stating the obvious," replied the woman.

The woman tossed her hair back, before turning to her male companion.

"Hakijo! I'll take care of them." She walked forward, and the death eaters eagerly flanked her, ready for some blood.

"Get out of my way," shouted the woman, forcing the cowed death eaters back, "I don't need help from weaklings. Voldemort may have requested you come along to test our loyalties, but Hakijo and I always work alone. So, just watch! You wouldn't be able to handle these four anyway."

The men glared at her for a moment, but seemed to decide it was best to keep quiet for the moment.

The young woman stepped forward, and, for the first time, since she had arrived, smiled. "Now then. Who would like to fight me first? Why don't you all come at once, so the last one standing won't feel so lonely?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "I don't like your tone, lady." He stepped forward, but Itachi thrust out his hand. Sasuke stared at it like it was some parasite that needed to be crushed. "What exactly are you doing Itachi?"

"Hmph! I'll fight her. I've already fought her once, so I know her style."

For a moment, it appeared Sasuke might very well knock Itachi's hand away. Then, the younger Uchiha nodded curtly, and stepped back, "Fine, but if she kills you, then I'm going next."

The lady laughed, "So, you want to die one by one? I can do that too. Truth be told, I was hoping I got to fight you Itachi Uchiha. Prepare to meet your maker."

Itachi remained silent, though his hands were now visible. "You? Kill me?" asked Itachi, "I think you've got it wrong. The moment you challenged your life was forfeit. You will die…and painfully." The elder Uchiha said this last part with such malice that for a moment the woman was slightly shaken.

She soon smirked, "We'll see Itachi Uchiha. After you, I'll kill your brother and all of the others. HAHAHAHA!"

Itachi blinked, and immediately the Cloud Kunoichi rushed at him. "Take this," she shouted, shaping her hand into something like a claw. She thrust this out at Itachi, who sighed and lifted his finger. He was surprised to see her vanish before him. She was replaced by four Itachi's charging at him.

The Uchiha's eye widened, 'Already? She's quick.'

Itachi raised a second finger, before his Sharingan eyes suddenly began spinning. Just as quickly as the four Itachi's appeared, they vanished. The woman, who replaced them, looked at him curiously.

"Interesting technique. What is it called?" Itachi shrugged, "My Demonic Illusion: Mirror Heaven and Earth Change technique allows me to reflect back any attempted Genjutsu cast at me. Note that I can reflect any Genjutsu back, so…"

Itachi smiled. The woman chuckled, before she waved her hand. The four imitations of her that had appeared suddenly vanished.

Itachi narrowed his eyes, "I see you too are no novice at dispelling Genjutsu. No matter, that was but a small bit of my power. Let me try again."

He was surprised when the woman was suddenly behind him with her claw inches from his jugular. "My, my, aren't you a big threat. You really think I'm going to let you cast a Genjutsu on me?"

Here Itachi smiled, "You haven't even realized that you've already been placed under one."

The woman's face grew pale, "what?!"

It was then the surrounding pitch vanished to be replaced by emptiness. The woman, struggling, realized she had been tied to a pole. Dozens of Itachi's appeared, each holding a sword. "What is this," screamed the woman, as the tips of the katanas pierced her flesh.

"You are trapped," began one Itachi, "inside my Tsukoyomi Spell," said another. "You will be here for what feels like seventy hours, when it is only seconds in the real dimension."

"That's what you think," shouted the woman, though she screamed from the pain of the swords all the same. The Itachi's stopped their attack for a brief moment. The woman opened her eyes, and smiled, "Got ya!"

To the watchers, it appeared as if Itachi and the woman had been at a standstill. None of them had realized that a Genjutsu battle had been going on. They were therefore surprised when an explosion appeared from nowhere. Itachi was thrown back, and landed on his back. He had several cuts on his face, but those were nothing compared to the electricity that he was struggling to overcome.

"Itachi," shouted Kisame. Even Sasuke was slightly shaken, "b-brother!" "Release," muttered Naruto, tapping Itachi. The lightning which had been surging through his legs vanished.

Itachi slowly stood, testing his legs. "It'll be alright," he said finally, "Thank you Naruto. I told you she was good…but she could not defeat me. Hehehehehehehehee!"

"What are you talking about Itachi," asked Kisame, "was it a Genjutsu battle? The only thing we saw was the two of you staring each other down."

Itachi nodded, "She was fast, and she cut deep with her illusions, but I just cut under it. I assume you saw it all little brother?" Sasuke was silent for a moment, "I saw some of it. I didn't see what you did to counter her after her fortieth Genjutsu illusion."

Naruto and Kisame paled. "Forty," repeated Naruto, "Oh my god. She managed to get in forty Genjutsu illusions in that amount of time?"

"Time is different in the Genjutsu world," said Itachi, "you of all people should know that Naruto." Naruto's eyes narrowed, "Yeah yeah yeah. So what happened to her? She's gone?"

"After her eightieth Genjutsu, I stopped my attack, and I went for directly. She saw my attempt though and struck me with something that looked suspiciously like your Chidori, little brother, but it was a huge blade of chakra. I countered with a fire jutsu, and it resulted in the explosion I'm sure you saw."

"Well, they seemed to have run off," said Sasuke, crossing his arms. So she has a lightning blade eh? I'll be looking forward to fighting her."

"What about those death eaters," asked Naruto? Sasuke laughed, "The death eaters were terrified. They vanished on the spot, so the other cloud shinobi picked her up and ran away. Good thing too. I was about to kill him!"

"Well, we should be happy we injured that woman," said Kisame, "I have a feeling they will be back next time in full force."

"Still, we have time to prepare," said Naruto, "those injuries must have taken her out of commission for awhile."

"They will send others," muttered Sasuke.

"Ooh, goodie, then I can play with them," said Kisame, who, up till now, had had a gloomy about his face. Naruto sighed, "Right, right, we will deal with each new enemy accordingly."

"What if the Cloud and those Death Eaters send in Kakuzu and Hidan, and mount a full scale invasion at the same time?" Naruto's face darkened, "Then we call in reinforcements and hope we can fight them off until they arrive."

Kisame chuckled, "What?! You think little Kakuzu and Hidan can outmatch us? Itachi and I are not as weak as you think we are." Naruto chuckled, "Right…whatever."

"Well, then," said Itachi turning, "You two should run along. Kisame and I will watch the grounds for now."

"Hold on a second Itachi. One, are you sure you're okay to hold the grounds after that attack? And two, how do we know we can trust you," accused Sasuke, who still wasn't completed satisfied with this, 'We're here to help' story.

Itachi shrugged, "You think after just a few hits I'm out? Silly Sasuke…run along now."

Sasuke turned red and he vanished from sight reappearing under Itachi with a fist to his chin. "Don't forget…silly Itachi," he said quietly, "that if I see fit, I will…"

He was cut off, as he felt a surge of chakra on his shoulder, preventing movement, "That's enough Sasuke. Remember what we talked about," asked Naruto, "don't disobey our client's orders now."

Sasuke groaned, "Fine," he muttered, and stepped back. "But I'll be keeping an eye on you." Itachi shrugged, "Kisame…let's go." "Hnn…"

"We should get going too," said Naruto turning. Sasuke took one last glance at his brother's retreating body, before turning to chase after Naruto, who was already flying up the path to the castle.

**Meanwhile**

Back in the Pensieve, Harry was unaware of the spell that was placed to freeze time. To him, Dumbledore quickly followed, if maybe with a brief delay.

They were standing in a country lane, bordered by large bushes and other greenery. It was quiet and peaceful, and Harry couldn't help but feel calm. The sky was cloudless, and the sun shined brightly down upon them. There were no loud folk, no cars, not much of anything, except nature.

Well, this was not entirely true. A short distance from them, Harry saw, was a short, balding young man, gazing upon a wooden signpost. He was the only man in sight, and he, to Harry's amusement, seemed to be as inexperienced as any other ministry official when it came to dressing as a muggle.

"Professor, this must be uh…Mr. Ogden." Dumbledore nodded, and nudged his head forward, just as Ogden began to briskly walk forward.

Harry and Dumbledore followed, past more bushes and greenery, until finally, ahead, Ogden stopped. He was standing at the fork in the road. To the right, the lane continued on as far as the eye could see, but to the left, branched off a small dirt road leading, down a steep hillside.

Peering down, Harry found himself staring into a valley where a whole village lay. Thinking back to the signpost, Harry figured this was Little Hangleton, and also figured this must be the final destination. The twosome continued after Ogden who was now taking longer strides. He appeared nervous about something, as if he didn't really want to be here at all.

'I wonder where we're going,' thought Harry when Ogden suddenly took an abrupt turn to the right, through a gap in the bushes. Unlike the previous paths, this new dirt road was very unkempt full of potholes and rocks. Ahead, the trees grew closely together, almost giving the illusion of some kind of forest. To top if off, the trees no longer looked as welcome as the ones along the main path leading down to the village.

Within the trees, Harry could see an ancient building ahead, and couldn't help but not want to know who the inhabitants were. Especially considering the fact he was seeing a rather large snake nailed to the door.

Ahead, Ogden seemed to realize something was strange as well, for he had drawn his wand and had it ready at his side.

A loud rustling in the trees alerted Harry to something above him. Moments later a large figure jumped from one of the treetops, causing both Harry and Ogden to jump back slightly. Harry's mouth dropped. The figure he was seeing was most undeniably male. Yet, that wasn't the strangest part. The man's whole body was covered with dirt, giving him the appearance of one who had not washed for ages. He was missing several teeth and the others were blackened and pointing in several different directions. He wore rags and dirty pink slippers, which Harry was quite odd. He would have laughed, except for the fact the man appeared drunk, looked like a savage, and was brandishing and waving around a blood stained knife.

Harry almost felt sorry for Ogden who would have to deal with him alone. "Err….good morning," tried Ogden, trying to arrange his face to look friendly.

"_You're not welcome!"_

Ignoring this, Ogden cleared his throat, "Ahem! I'm from the ministry of magic!"

"_You're not welcome!"_

This time, Ogden stopped. "I'm sorry," he asked. Harry narrowed his eyes. "This guy looks pretty dumb. That guy's being pretty clear isn't he?" "Eh," responded Dumbledore, "Oh! I imagine you can understand what he is saying."

Harry blinked, "What? I do…n't." Harry eyes rested upon the dead snake on the door and the realization hit him, "Oh, he's talking in parseltongue." "Quite right," said Dumbledore, before looking back to Ogden again.

The savage looking man was no advancing upon Ogden, who was continuously backing up, perspiring in all his nervousness. "Uh," said Ogden, raising a hand, "let's stop and think about this. Hold …"

It was too late however as there was a bang and Ogden was forced to plug up his nose, through which yellow pus was flowing. "Morfin!"

Harry turned towards the building to see a smaller man running out of it. This one seemed just as filthy looking as the taller man, but there was a much more commanding tone in his voice. Harry figured he must be the father or some kind of head-figure.

This new man stopped where Morfin was now cackling with laughter at Ogden who was squirming on the ground.

"Ministry, are ya," asked the older man, looking down at Ogden, with something of a sneer. Ogden glared back angrily, before waving his wand to stop the pus. "That's right," said Ogden, nearly shouting, "and you I take it are Mr. Gaunt!"

The older man nodded, "S'right! Got you in the face did he? Shoulda made your presence known. This is private property. Can't just walk onto our land and not expect my son to defend him."

Ogden looked incredulous, as he stood, "Defend him…? What? Defend against what, man?" Mr. Gaunt threw his hands up before shouting, "Busybodies! Intruders! Muggles and Filth!" Out of the corner of his mouth, Gaunt muttered, _"Get in the house. Don't argue!"_ This time, Harry caught the hiss like sound that was all Ogden could comprehend.

Ogden watched Morfin lumber and slam the door. "Now what d'ya want," demanded Gaunt."

"Ah, actually, it's your son I'm here to see," replied Ogden, "that was Morfin right?" "Ar, that was Morfin," said Gaunt. "Say," said Gaunt, suddenly looking vicious, "are you pureblood?"

"That's neither here nor there," said Ogden coldly, and Harry felt his respect for the man rise. Gaunt didn't seem to like this response and instead changed his attention to Ogden's nose, which was oddly shaped after his accident, "Say, I've seen noses like yours down in the village."

Ogden waved his wand, straightening his nose out, "well, I'm not surprised if your son's been let loose upon them. Perhaps we should continue this discussion inside?" "Inside," repeated Gaunt, in a way that clearly showed he would not be happy with that arrangement.

"Yes, inside," repeated Ogden, who was purposefully ignoring this threatening tone. "I've told you already. I'm here about Morfin. We sent an owl." Gaunt threw his hands up again violently, "Owls? I've no use for owls! We don't read mail!"

"Well, then you can hardly complain that you get no warning of visitors, eh," asked Ogden coldly, "I'm here regarding a serious breach in Wizarding law, which…" "Alright, already," shouted Gaunt, throwing his hands up again, "come in the bleeding house then."

Harry and Dumbledore followed, with the former disliking the place even more and more. The building contained three very small rooms. There was the main room he was currently standing in and two doors branched off leading to the others two rooms. The first was a kitchen, which looked as old as the building itself. The second was some kind of living room, where Morfin was lounging upon a chair, twisting a live adder in his hands. Harry could hear the soft hissing, and knew the snake must be undergoing some kind of torture from Morfin.

He couldn't dwell on this thought for he suddenly noticed something move in the kitchen. A small and frail looking woman had seemingly emerged from the wall, though Harry soon realized it was because her rags were dirty enough so they were the exact same color as the wall.

"M'daughter Merope," said Gaunt, nudging his head. Ogden bowed his head slightly, "Good morning." Merope, who seemed frightened of something, did not reply, and instead turned back to whatever it was she was doing.

Turning back to Gaunt, Ogden cleared his throat. "Well, Mr. Gaunt, to get straight to the point, we have enough evidence which tells us that, late last night, Morfin performed magic in front of a muggle."

From the kitchen there was a deafening clang. Merope had dropped one of the pots. Gaunt, in a fit of rage, burst out with a voice, Harry never dreamed he had, "PICK IT UP! That's it! Grub on the floor like some filthy muggle, what's your wand for, you useless sack of muck!"

Ogden, shocked, raised a hand, "Mr. Gaunt, please." Unfortunately he was cut off, by Gaunt again, as Merope dropped the pot a second time, breaking it. "MEND IT YOU IDIOT," shouted Gaunt."

Merope, shaking uncontrollably, pulled out her wand, and tried to save something, but nothing happened. Gaunt stepped forward, and it seemed he might use force, when Ogden whipped his own wand out and said firmly, "Reparo!"

The pot immediately mended itself. Gaunt, in the process of reaching for Merope's neck, stopped and looked incredulously at the pot. He then whirled around to face Ogden, and looked ready to shout at him, but seemed to think better of it. "Good thing the nice man from the ministry is here eh?"

Merope didn't make any movement. Instead she pressed herself against the wall, and Harry, if he hadn't known she was there, swore he would have missed her.

"Okay," said Ogden, beginning again, "as I've said, I'm here for…" "I heard you the first time," shouted Gaunt. "And so what? Morfin gave a Muggle a bit what was coming to him. What about it then?"

"Morfin has broken Wizarding law," said Ogden seriously. Gaunt laughed and imitated this in a singsong voice. "So what? He taught a filthy muggle a lesson. That illegal now?"

Ogden nodded, "Yes, I'm afraid it is," he said, pulling out a parchment. "What's that then? His sentence?" "It's a summons to the ministry…"

Ogden didn't get to finish as Gaunt burst out angrily, "SUMMONS?! Who do you think you are, summoning my son anywhere?" "I'm head of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad," shouted Ogden back, gesturing towards a badge on his shirt.

"And you think we're scum do you," responded Gaunt, his temper taking over, "scum who'll come running whenever the ministry tells us to? Do you even know who you're talking to?"

"I was under the impression I was talking to Mr. Gaunt," replied Ogden, who was starting to look nervous again. "That's right," roared Gaunt. And to signify this, Gaunt raised his index finger, showing a ring, with an odd symbol on it. "Know what this is? Know where it came from? Centuries it's been in our family, that's how far back we go; and pure-blood all the way. Know how much I've been offered for this; with the Peverell coat of arms engraved on the stone?"

"I've really no idea," said Ogden, who was disinterested, "and it's quite beside the point. Your son has…" "Beside the point," yelled Gaunt. The old man ran to Merope, who had remained as fearful and motionless, and yanked her by the neck to where Ogden waited shocked. "Mr. Gaunt, you're daughter!" "See this;" shouted Gaunt, ignoring him, "see this locket?"

Ogden gazed at the locket hung around Merope's neck, and took another wary step backwards, "I see it, I see it."

"Slytherin's! Salazar Slytherin's," shouted Gaunt gesturing towards a magnificently shaped 'S.' "We're his last living descendants, what do you say to that, eh?" Ogden opened his mouth to speak, but was promptly cut off again, as Gaunt continue to ramble on.

"So," shouted Gaunt, as if he had just settled the matter once and for all, "Don't go talking to us as if we were just dirt on your shoes! Generations of purebloods, wizards all…more than 'you' can say, I don't doubt!"

Ogden sighed, "Mr. Gaunt, neither your ancestors nor mine have anything to do with this matter. I am here because Morfin! Morfin and the Muggle he attacked. Our information is that Morfin performed a jinx or hex that resulted in the Muggle erupting in highly painful hives."

"And," asked Gaunt, as if he could see nothing strange about this, "so what if he did then? I expect you've wiped the Muggle's filthy face clean for him and his memory to boot."

"That's hardly the point, Mr. Gaunt! This was an unprovoked attack on a defenseless!"

He was interrupted yet again, as Gaunt snorted, "Ar! I had you marked out as Muggle-lover from the moment I saw you."

Ogden didn't respond to this. Instead he gazed fiercely at Gaunt for a moment. He suddenly made his mind up about something for he shrugged and pocketed his scroll. "I'm sorry Mr. Gaunt, but this discussion is getting us nowhere. It's quite clear your son feels no remorse for his actions. He "will" attend a hearing on the fourteenth of September to answer the charges of using magic in front of a Muggle and causing distress to that same Muggle!"

Gaunt's eyes narrowed very dangerously, "You think we're just…." This time it was Gaunt's turn to get interrupted as the hooves of a trotting horse down the road could be heard along with the unmistakable sound of a young couple laughing.

"My god, Tom, what an eyesore," said the girl, whose soft voice could be heard over the clip-clop of the horse's moving hooves, "can't your father clear that hovel away?" The man responded with a sigh, "Ah, that thing there doesn't belong to us. We own everything on the other side of the valley, but that thing belongs to an old tramp named Gaunt and his kids. They say the son's quite mad."

The girl laughed, but it was cut short and followed by a shriek. "Tom, you're not going to believe this, but…is that a snake nailed to the door." "My god, you're right. That's the son I tell you. Don't look at it, Cecelia, darling."

"_Darling,"_ echoed Morfin, in Parseltongue, to Merope, who had suddenly turned pale beyond imagination, _"so he wouldn't have you anyway." _

This sudden bit seemed to get Gaunt's attention, and the old man turned away from Ogden, who was struck dumb by the sudden hissing. _"Wha? What's that? What did you say, Morfin?"_

Morfin cackled evilly, not taking his eye off Merope, _"you like looking at that Muggle don't you? Always in the garden when he passes. And last night…hanging out the window waiting for him to ride home." _

Merope was now tearing up, and she closed her eyes, waiting the impending explosion.

"_Waiting out the window," _repeated Gaunt, slowly, _"for a…Muggle?" _He took a step towards Merope, who seemed to be desperately trying to melt away into nothingness. _"Is it true," _asked Gaunt, dangerously, _"my daughter? A descendant of Salazar Slytherin himself…hanging out the window for a Muggle? Hankering after a piece of filth?" _

Morfin burst out laughing_, "But I got him father. The one they call Tom…didn't look so pretty with hives all over him, did he Merope?" _

"_You disgusting little squib! Filthy blood traitor,"_ roared Gaunt, suddenly tackling Merope to the ground and clutching her neck, violently. Harry raised a hand to try and stop it, but Dumbledore calmly stopped him.

Ogden, seeing this outburst had drawn his wand so fast and shouted, "Relashio," that Gaunt was quite unprepared to be thrown off and onto his back. Morfin, ready to get revenge brandished his knife and began shooting off hexes from his wand.

And Ogden ran…ran for his life. Dumbledore signaled they should follow, and as they stepped out, Harry felt his feet suddenly leave the ground. The two soared through darkness until they were at last back in the familiar office.

"Merope," asked Harry, immediately, as Dumbledore collapsed onto a seat, "what happened to her?" "Oh, she survived," said Dumbledore, "Ogden disapparated to the Ministry and came back within fifteen minutes with reinforcement. Morfin and Gaunt tried to put a fight, but both were overcome and arrested and tried. Morfin already with a whole record of Muggle attacks was sentenced to three years in prison. Marvolo, who injured several ministry officials, received six months."

"Marvolo," asked Harry, recognizing the name. Dumbledore smiled, "That's right. I'm glad to see you're keeping up." "Then that man….Gaunt…was Voldemort's…"

"Grandfather, yes," finished Dumbledore, smiling. "The three Gaunts were the last surviving family of a very ancient Wizarding family which can be traced back to Salazar Slytherin. Also noted for their instability, due to the habit of marrying their own cousins."

"So that means….Merope was Voldemort's mother?" Dumbledore nodded, "It does. And it so happens we had a glimpse of Voldemort's father. Did you notice?"

"The Muggle man Morfin attacked," asked Harry, "the one on the horse?"

Dumbledore beamed, "Aha! Very good indeed. Yes, that was Tom Riddle Senior, the handsome Muggle who used to go riding past the Gaunt's house, and, whom Merope cherished a secret burning passion."

Harry's mouth dropped, "they got married? I can't believe that could have happened."

"Ah, but you are forgetting Merope was a witch. I doubt her powers would have appeared to their best advantage while she was being terrorized by her father, but, once Morfin and Marvolo were locked up, she was alone and free for the first time."

"So, she used something to enslave Riddle? Like a love potion. Or the Imperius Curse."

Dumbledore nodded, "Good guess, but I'm more inclined to think the love potion. It would have felt…ah…more romantic to her I am sure. In any case, the village of Little Hangleton enjoyed a tremendous scandal. The squire's son had run off with the tramp's daughter. Quite a gossip."

"So what happened to Gaunt…err…Marvolo," asked Harry.

"Well, you can imagine Marvolo's shock when he returned to the cabin, only to fine an inch of dust and the place empty, with a note of Merope's farewell. From what I can gather, he died in that place soon after his return, and he did not leave to see Morfin come back."

"And Merope," said Harry, "didn't she die? How'd that come up?"

Dumbledore stroked his beard for a moment, "Well, here we need to do a bit of guesswork. It's not too hard, though, for you see, a few months after the scandal, Tom Riddle returned to Little Hangleton. The rumors were he said he was 'taken in' and 'hoodwinked.' What he meant I'm sure was that he was entranced and the spell had worn off. Of course he couldn't say those exact words. Anyway, the villages didn't ask too many questions and soon, everything there was back to normal. The villagers guessed that Merope said she would have his baby, and this was the reason he married her."

"But, uh, she did have his baby," said Harry, "what went wrong? Why did the love potion stop working?"

"Again, this is guesswork," said Dumbledore, "But, I think that after a few months, Merope was so deeply in love with him, that she figured that by now Riddle would love her back. She stopped giving him the potion, and, when she realized she had been wrong, her heart was broken, and Riddle left her pregnant, never bothering to have anything to do with her or with her son again. With nothing else to do, Merope dropped Voldemort at an orphanage, where she died, after a painful life."

Outside, the moon was shining brightly, and the sky was dark black. "I think that's enough for tonight," said Dumbledore. Harry nodded, "Yes sir." Harry, turned to leave, but suddenly stopped, and turned back.

"Sir, is it important to know about Voldemort's past." Dumbledore smiled, "Very important, I think." "Right," said Harry, scratching his head, "Err…sir? Am I allowed to tell Ron and Hermione what you told me?"

Dumbledore regarded him for a moment, as if searching his mind. After a pause he closed his eyes and smiled, "Yes, I think that will be okay. But be warned, Harry. Keep everything we say in this room between us and your friends. It would be something of a bad idea if word got around to Voldemort how much I know…excuse me…think I know about his past and secrets."

Harry nodded, "No sir, it'll be just Ron and Hermione." Dumbledore smiled, "What about those foreign Japanese students who you hang out with so much these days?" Harry opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it. He realized he hadn't been thinking about them, and couldn't imagine how he was going to keep it away from them. "I, uhh," stammered Harry.

Dumbledore laughed, "You may tell them as well. But only the ones in your house, understand?" Harry nodded, though he was a bit suspicious. "But why them, sir?"

"Oh, nothing, Harry. You may tell them if you wish to. I've watched them closely you know, and they don't seem the type to be disloyal to their friends." Harry's eyes narrowed, slightly suspicious, "Okay, sir, if you say so. Good night then."

And with that, Harry walked out, his mind still a bit jumbled after everything he had seen and heard. But the strangest thing of all was Dumbledore's mysterious trust in the three foreign students. He would talk with Hermione and Ron later about it.

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_Lionheart: Okay, that was a long chapter. Tell me what you think. Also, I'm wondering if anyone here is interested enough to do my proofreading. You know, correct the little mistakes that you might see, since my free time is slowly running out._


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